Rise of the Namikaze Clan
by Feeruk
Summary: What would happen if Kushina and Minato lived through the Kyubi's sealing? How would Konoha's Yondaime handle things differently than the Sandaime? Watch as the once meager Namikaze clan rises in glory to new heights that even the Uchiha and Senju couldn't hope to match. Living Minato/Kushina. Eventual God-like Naruto. M for language / later violence. Slow updates.
1. Youthful Beginnings

Author's Notes:

-This will be a God mode Naruto kind of story. I intend to give him very strong abilities from the very start. If you're not a huge fan of those types of fanfics, then I wouldn't suggest reading too much of this.

-Some details of the Canon might be altered to fit my story a bit better. Heritage, time of events, and even major events will be substantially altered aside from his parents surviving.

-I suck at writing Romaji, just saying to get that out of the way immediately. As such, I typically use the minimal amount of it. I'll use Romaji for story abilities, and use English for any original ones I create. Sorry if it bothers you to switch back and forth, but this works best for me.

-My grammar is far from perfect. I perform several checks over my work before submitting any, but mistakes do and will happen. If you see any in particular occurring repeatedly, please be sure to leave me a comment and I'll see if I can improve. In particular, my punctuation around quotations will likely leave a lot to be desired.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Youthful Beginnings**

(Naruto age: 4)

* * *

Naruto awoke early, an hour earlier than usual, which was saying something when you usually awaken at the crack of dawn. His eyes cracked open slowly at first due to the normal extra hour that was lost, but they shot open when he realized what day it was. He glanced out of his window to see that the sun had yet to even begin peaking over the horizon, and the resident blonde couldn't help but grin excitedly.

After taking a moment to stretch, he decided to head into the kitchen to grab something for breakfast. He tossed on a fresh orange t-shirt and some casual blue pants for clothes, making sure he tossed his ones from the day before in bin next to the door.

'_Today's finally the day I get to train,'_ Naruto thought to himself eagerly.

Since he had been self-aware enough to begin to remember things, he had only been allowed outside a handful of times. Even on those rare occasions, he always guarded by both of his parents or someone they truly trusted like Kakashi or Hiruzen. He had been to the nearby park to play once or twice, and the rest were either special events or to go eat.

The trips outside had been…odd. While he was still young, Naruto could easily tell that there was some sort of animosity the villagers held towards him. The glares, the harsh whispers, and their mannerisms just made him think that something was wrong.

At first he presumed it was likely just the fact that he was the son of the village's hero and was just treated differently, but in reality this was not the case. The young blonde could tell when his parents were with him that they always kept a close eye on the villagers glaring at him, though he still didn't know why.

There had been a few incidents of people trying to harass him when he was out in public the handful of times he had been without Minato, but they were dealt with swiftly and severely – usually by his father. Despite the hypocrisy of it, the villagers truly did love Minato Namikaze while at the same time despising his son without knowing anything about him. Needless to say, trying to harm the son of the Yondaime Hokage has consequences. Hero to the village or not, he was a protective father.

Usually, the punishments dealt out were fines, demotions, or other such civil charges. However, for a select handful, he had completely stripped them of shinobi rank and/or banished them from the village completely. The harsher ones were reserved for those who were found to be plotting an "accident" for Naruto, which was something he made perfectly clear would not be tolerated.

Speaking of the young blonde, as he ran out of his room he turned right outside of his door and began the short walk towards the kitchen area of the estate. As the door slid open, he was rather surprised to see both of his parents already in there. His father was resting his forehead down on the table, seemingly in exhaustion. Meanwhile, several meters away, his mother seemed to be making something on the stove.

Taking a sniff of the air, however, he couldn't help but let a line of drool fall from his mouth at the intoxicating aroma.

Both of his parents were clad in their casual clothing that they wore around the estate. Minato was wearing a dark blue shirt with matching pants. Kushina was wearing a green, sleeveless shirt along with a pair of dark green pants that came to mid-calf and had her iconic, long, red hair flowing behind her. While it was nothing particularly special for either of them, many would claim his mother's beauty was nearly without equal while his father kept a youthful look about him that made him quite handsome.

Noting the sound of the door opening, Minato turned his forehead on the table just enough to see that it was his son that was entering the room. Giving his son a smile, he decided to tease him a little.

"I see someone is up bright and early for their first day of training," Minato said in a teasing tone. "A little excited, are we?"

"Of course dad!" Naruto shouted as he walked up to the table and his mother turned her attention towards him. "Today's when I start to become a super amazing shinobi like you!" The young blonde gestured with his arms wildly as he proclaimed his intentions.

"Naru-chan! What are you doing up so early, you should still be sleeping for another 15 minutes or so!" Kushina chided as she walked over to her son and looked him over carefully, ensuring he had dressed properly, which he thankfully was.

"But mooom!" Naruto exclaimed, "I'm too excited to sleep any longer! Today's finally the day I get to start getting stronger and faster, no more silly books!"

Minato and Kushina both gave a small laugh. They had taught their son to read the previous year, and it was something they made him do religiously. While he couldn't read anything too complex yet, they had him begin on simple things such as children's stories and very basic tips on physical training and aiming ranged ninja tools. However, just like them, Naruto didn't seem to be much of a reader at his current age. Their love for sealing and reading had not hit them until their early teenage years.

"Are you sure you want to?" Naruto's mother asked in a worried tone, obviously concerned about him. "I still think you should wait another year or maybe two."

"I'm sure mom," Naruto said with a huge grin. "I can't beat dad one day if I can't go outside!"

Kushina looked like she was about to argue the matter further, but the blonde Hokage quelled some of her nervousness by putting a hand on her shoulder. They had discussed Naruto being allowed to leave for quite some time, particularly with someone they didn't trust completely like Hiruzen Sarutobi. However, in the end, the blue-eyed man had won in their arguments with Naruto's support behind him.

"Now Naruto," Minato began after Kushina relented in trying to persuade him out of it, "I know you're excited but I want you to behave for the trainer I got for you, okay? I don't want to hear you were disrespectful. He's going out of his way to help you, so I expect you to do what he says. You will address him properly as your sensei, no nicknames like you gave Jiraiya and Hiruzen."

"Hai, father," Naruto responded quick and with a toothy grin. "You said he's super strong, so of course I'll listen to him! Ero-sennin and Jiji earned the nicknames though.

Minato then reached over and ruffled his son's hair playfully, not bothering to try and restrain the smile from crossing his face at Naruto's attitude. It was then that he finally caught the delicious aroma that he finally noticed was lingering in the air. Naruto had noticed the scent first simply through his enhanced sense of smell, which they had discovered over the last year. He could easily rival the nose of an Inuzuka member around his age.

"I do believe you'll at least get your favorite breakfast before you start though," Minato stated with a grin.

"RAAAAAAAMEN!" Naruto shouted, making both of his parents giggle slightly. Kushina quickly returned to the stove, taking the pot off of it and putting everything into a large bowl. After that, she used a large ladle to fill 3 bowls with the noodles and broth before putting them onto the table. As she finished, looking down on the two males in her life, she felt a warm glow in her stomach before she gave her son a quick kiss on the cheek and her husband a quick one on the lips. Seeing her family like this always got her a bit emotional. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined that two others could make her so happy.

They waited wordlessly for a few minutes as the food cooled. Minato didn't particularly have the fanatic love of ramen that his wife or son did, but he did still like to eat it from time to time. As it finally became cool enough to eat, the Namikaze family happily took up pairs of chopsticks as they began to eat with vigor.

Naruto was still rather young, so he hadn't yet developed the infamous Uzumaki bottomless pit for ramen that his mother had done her best to try to quell within herself. Minato knew all too well that, realistically, Kushina could eat 7 or 8 bowls of the stuff before she had truly had enough for her liking. However, she usually constrained herself to just 1 or 2, claiming that she wanted to keep her figure for him as best as she could. While he appreciated the gesture, Minato simply wished she would eat until she had her fill. Naruto and his father happily ate 1 bowl of the "food of the Gods" while Kushina contented herself with 2. Despite the difference in food quantity, they all found themselves finishing at around the same time 15 minutes later.

It was around that time, however, when the blonde Hokage felt a small tingle on his right wrist. Looking down at the small tattoo, he saw the kanji for "gate" appearing.

"He's here," Minato said plainly as he turned to his son. "You're sure you're ready for this, Naruto?"

Rather than getting a verbal response, Minato just watched with a grin as his son took off from the kitchen and presumably rushed to the front of the estate. The blonde Hokage took his wife's hand in his and, with a quick application of chakra, used his Hiraishin to immediately appear at the front of the Namikaze estate. Looking outside of the gate, they saw just who they were expecting even as they heard the door of their estate quickly open and close with the sound of running footsteps heading towards them.

'_He really is so excited for this,' _Kushina thought to herself as she turned to see her child running towards the gate as fast as his small legs could carry him. While she worried about him, she couldn't help but feel a little proud that he wanted to make steps towards being a shinobi in his own right.

"YOOOOOOOSH! Your son's flames of youth seem to be burning brightly for so early in the morning!" shouted a familiar man clad in a green spandex suit as he watched the young blonde run towards him.

He had orange, striped legwarmers around his shins and a standard issue Konoha flak jacket that was unzipped. The most notable features aside from the suit, however, would be the ridiculously thick eyebrows and the black, bowl-cut hair-style. He gave the Namikaze family a smile along with holding a thumb up at them, both seemingly giving off an unnatural sparkle.

Kushina gave a false smile towards the man while slowly turning her head mechanically towards her husband, who was innocently rubbing the back of his head and hoping that Naruto would take a liking to the man to save him a beating later.

'_Naruto, please don't catch on to his flames of youth crap, I don't want to die so young!' _Minato finished the thought by tentatively glancing over to his wife, and knew that he would inevitably be finished if that occurred. He had told her about Gai, but not about how…eccentric the man was.

"Are you Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked as he finally came up to the gate. The blonde boy looked in wonder at the man, noting that he seemed to be quite physically fit.

"Yosh! I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey! You must be young Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded eagerly in response. "So you're going to teach me to be an amazing ninja like my mom and dad?"

"I shall do my best my youthful friend! Hokage-sama here has requested that I monitor your physical training today since I am free."

Gai's jovial face and tone disappeared for a moment as he studied the boy in front of him seriously. He quickly turned to Minato after a few moments.

"Shall I report to you when we are finished, Hokage-sama?" Gai asked.

Minato seemed to think for a moment before he nodded. "Please do, I will be in the Hokage tower most of the day."

Gai nodded in response before returning to his jovial self as the gate to the estate opened at Minato's touch. He quickly turned himself upside down and stood on his hands.

"Come young Naruto! Let us see if your flames of youth can match my own!" Gai shouted as he started walking away on his hands. Naruto hung back for a moment as he did, giving Kushina and Minato each a quick hug.

"I love you mom, I love you dad, and I'll see you later!" Naruto shouted as he ran quickly to catch up to the Taijutsu specialist.

The blonde Hokage smiled seeing his son so eagerly run off with the Taijutsu expert of the village. His smile was short lived, however, when he turned and saw the threatening face of his wife with her hair flowing in individual strands around her as if it was alive.

"Minato-kun," she began sweetly, "I think we should talk about your choice in our son's trainer."

The blonde merely gave a nervous look as he rubbed the back of his head. _'For the love of Kami, Gai, do not start ingraining that stuff into his head. I really, __**really**__ don't want to die just yet.'_

* * *

**(1 hour later)**

The jovial laughter of one Might Gai was not a particularly uncommon thing to ring through the Konoha neighborhoods so early in the morning, but the laughter that followed afterwards certainly was. Gai was still on his hands, setting a moderate pace as the young blonde jogged next to him to keep up. While the self-proclaimed "Green Beast" was mildly sweating from exertion, Naruto seemed pretty heavily winded.

'_Not bad,'_ Gai thought to himself as they continued around the outer edges of the village. _'Even I couldn't last for an hour straight during my first jog. Your boy definitely has a good amount of potential, Minato.'_

His thought process was brought to an end, however, when he noticed several villagers purposely stepping well out of the way of the two of them. It was just now hitting the point to where the early risers became active, so villagers were finally coming outside. Some even went so far as to completely change direction at the sight of the boy. Gai had been informed this might happen, so he thought nothing of it at that moment. However, as he looked over to the blonde he had been laughing with just minutes ago, he noticed that his expression had gotten rather downtrodden.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Gai asked in a light tone as he continued forward at a slowed pace. "Don't tell me your flames of youth are flickering on me already!"

"No…Gai-sensei, that isn't it. I just…don't like it when people talk about me…or look at me"

The Jonin immediately stopped where he was, turning his head towards the boy with his full intention. Naruto had continued a few steps before he stopped and turned around to face the man. Gai, judging by the look on the boy's face, could tell immediately that he didn't know about what was sealed inside of him.

"You can hear what they were saying?" Gai asked in all seriousness. The villagers that had been moving out of their way had been quite a distance away, enough so that even a young Inuzuka would have trouble with picking up the noise. He then looked at the villagers again in earnest and saw the hatred and anger they looked at the young blonde with. Despite his usually kind nature to others, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of anger towards all of those who would judge a boy without getting to know him first.

"Yeah," Naruto responded as he took the moment to suck in a few deep breaths of air, seemingly almost as good as new afterwards. "I've always been able to. Maybe it's like my sense of smell? My dad always tells me I apparently have as good of a nose as an Inuzuka."

Gai looked at the boy even more seriously now, though he wasn't going to let his attitude show it. It was clear he had exceptional hearing, and quite possibly exceptional sense of smell as well if Minato himself had praised it to be on par with the Inuzuka clan. It was quite possible that the boy could turn into quite the tracker if trained well enough. _'Maybe having the Kyūbi sealed within him heightened his senses a bit…' _

However, Gai eliminated the trail of thought before he had begun, simply telling himself to leave it until after they were finished. "I see, well it is of no consequence! Let us push forward young Naruto!" With nothing further being said, Gai continued on as he made Naruto jog to keep up beside him. His plan was to finish this lap in the village before they went back to the Namikaze estate to begin their form training.

As they finished the full lap 45 minutes later, Gai noticed the young boy getting more harsh looks as the villagers were out in number now. Even the Jonin, who admittedly had poor hearing compared to most thanks to his boisterous antics, heard some of the rather harsh comments being said towards the boy. He turned over and saw the boy looked even more down than beforehand, so he decided to cheer him up.

"Alright Naruto, we're finished with running for the time being. Now, how about we go back to your house and get you started on being a super ninja just like your father?"

Gai smiled inwardly as the boy's head instantly shot up in a large, toothy grin. "Really?! Yes! Please, please, please, teach me Gai-sensei!"

However, before Gai could finish his boisterous laugh he was about to give, the man was forced to watch in horror as a masked man in Konoha ANBU gear rose up behind the young boy with a kunai poised to strike. He immediately jumped onto his feet and tried to rush to the boy, shouting for him to get down.

Naruto, however, felt the world almost slow down. He turned, although slowly, and watched in horror as the masked man behind him shoved a kunai into his body.

The man was immediately knocked 50 feet back by the force of the punch Gai immediately threw into his face. He had gone so far as to open the first gate instantly to try to get to the boy faster. As he turned around from the man, he watched in horror once more as the young blonde stood in shock, hands reaching up towards the kunai imbedded into his heart. He looked up to Gai, his blue eyes showing true fear for the first time in his life, as he coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell backwards.

"**NARUTO**!"

* * *

Cliffhangers, gotta love/hate them, don't you? Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks for reading/following/favoriting/reviewing or any combination of the four.

Please keep in mind that this is **not** my main story, it is only a secondary one that I write on from time to time. I had a good chunk of this written before I began a story currently known as **"Konoha's Guardian Serpent" **which is the one that gets a majority of my free time. I intend to update this one from time to time, but you shouldn't expect any regular intervals.

That said, see you all next time!


	2. Reoccurring Nightmare

**Chapter 2: Reoccurring Nightmare**

* * *

Naruto awoke slowly, cracking open his eyes to see almost nothing but darkness. However, while incredibly dark, he was able to make out patterns along the ceiling. Looking around, he found himself to be in a large, square room. The walls and ceiling were patterned with lines, though it was nothing fancy.

Regaining his senses, he felt his entire back was soaked with water, though he wasn't sure why. As he turned his head, he realized that he was lying in a few inches of water.

"Ugh…." The blonde grunted as he turned himself over and pushed himself off of the ground. "How'd I get here…the last thing I remember was…!" He immediately shot his hands towards his chest, expecting to find the kunai, though there was nothing there. As a result, he breathed a sigh of relief, though his anxiety was quickly returned and multiplied a hundred fold a moment later.

"**HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" **came the most intimidating voice Naruto had ever heard in his young life. The voice originated from the one side of the room that he couldn't see. However, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out what looked like vertical bars on that side of the room. They came together as if they were 2 gates, with nothing but a slip of paper with the kanji for "seal" holding them together.

"H-h-h-hello?" Naruto asked, obviously scared completely out of his wits.

"**Hello there, young one,"** came the voice again. This time, however, his fear was fueled further as 2 blood red eyes became visible through the bars of the cage. **"I had not planned on meeting you for many years yet." **After speaking, a row of what he presumed to be razor-sharp teeth spread appeared from the shadow in a foxy grin.

As the creature became visible, Naruto simply fell onto his ass in shock as he stared towards it. While he was only 4, he had red and listened well enough to know what was before him. The eyes, the intimidating aura, the size, and the 9 tails thrashing behind it were all a dead give-away.

"K-K-Kyūbi no Y-Yōko" Naruto responded shakily. "B-but y-y-you should be d-dead."

The room shook slightly at the force of the demon's laughter, exposing the sharp teeth it possessed again as it did.

"**From the knowledge you have, yes I should be. However, now is not the time for this, we don't have a great deal of time and we have much to talk about. I'll put this in simple terms, you're dying." **

"B-but I fe-" Naruto began before he was interrupted.

"**This is a place called your mindscape, boy. In reality, you are lying on the pavement in front of that idiot training you with a kunai buried in your heart." **

Naruto's eyes widened, extremely saddened by the news. "But…I…I wanted to be a shinobi. I…my mom and dad p-p-promised I would be o-okay…" The blonde's voice shook as he spoke, though the Kyūbi thought no less of him for that particular reaction. It imagined that even the most hardened of ninja would likely cry if they had been exposed to death so early in their life.

"**Stop your babbling. You're here because I can save you. Though I don't like being sealed away, my container dying will make me look feeble and weak, and I really don't want to wait 80 years to reappear because of your father's damned seal. So, here's the deal. I will heal you, and you will have no problem surviving. However, in exchange, you will be changed a bit. I would've done it without speaking to you, but I need your consent to change your body thanks to this."**

The fox tapped the back of the cage where the seal was located on the cage for emphasis with one of his claws.

Naruto simply stood dumbly at the information he was being presented. "You…you're sealed inside me?"

The Kyubi simply sighed. It knew the boy was young, but the revealing of having it sealed inside him should not have been the question he prioritized an answer to.

"**Yes, now listen, as you have to decide quickly. Here's a summary of what will happen. Your body will gain remarkable regeneration abilities and stamina. You will be able to train and fight for hours without rest, and wounds will heal even quicker than they do already. You will be able to tap into your chakra reserves immediately, making you the youngest known human to use chakra. On top of that, your chakra network will have an extremely high affinity for all 5 elements of nature. You will grow a decent amount immediately, and likely be taller than average for your age. Similarly, you muscles will be infused with my chakra. This will immediately force them to grow, and you will become rather muscular. You will be able to grow and tone your muscles easier than others as a result, and they will only tire under extreme duress."**

At this point the demon sighed, knowing this could be the moment where he flushes his survival down the toilet. Thanks to a small change Minato made on the seal over the years, however, the demon was compelled to tell the entire truth to his container.

"**However, it does have its downfalls. You will be infused heavily with my chakra, meaning that villagers will notice this and likely fear you more afterwards. The stares, whispers, and any attacks will likely get a lot worse. It also means that I will be able to tell what you're doing at almost any given time. I will likely be able to communicate with you afterwards as well, which you may not like. Making friends and eventually finding love may prove more difficult to you than before, though you obviously will never have a chance if you die. The ultimate decision is yours, but you only have about 30 more seconds before you will lose too much blood for me to save you." **

Naruto sat dumbly, trying to take in all of the information he had been provided. 15 seconds later, he looked up, though with tears still in his eyes.

"Will I still be able to be an amazing shinobi?"

The Kyūbi merely widened its eyes slightly, not expecting an answer like that.

"**Boy," **the fox began as its lips pulled back in a grin. **"With the changes I make, you could become the God of Shinobi of your time. You have 5 seconds left." **

"Do it," Naruto said with a steady voice. The Kyūbi, in returned, grinned even further. It was happy that its host was wise enough to make this decision, even if it was only to save his own hide.

"…and thank you, fox," Naruto added.

The demon's smile died down a bit, simply looking at the young boy in front of him even as it channeled red chakra towards his mindscape projection of his body. No one had ever thanked him since his father, whom he could've sworn he saw a faint outline of around the blonde boy in front of him for the briefest of moments.

"…**.You are welcome," **the Kyūbi responded simply as the red chakra reached the boy. '_**Maybe….maybe this is who you spoke of father."**_

* * *

**(Back in reality)**

Gai was over the young blonde, tears dropping down his cheeks as he applied as much pressure as he could to the boy's chest.

"Someone get a doctor!" He shouted to the civilians that were surrounding him. Horrifically, however, he watched the crowd surrounding him do nothing of the sort.

"Let the demon die," whispered one man in the back.

"I say we stab it again to be sure," whispered another.

"Don't forget to burn the body afterwards," finished another.

As Gai was about to flare his killing intent at full power to scare them into doing what he needed, however, he was blown back by a powerful gust of wind along with all of the villagers. As he regained his senses almost immediately afterwards, he could do nothing but stare on in horror.

The boy whose blood was on his hands was now having spasms on the ground as the most sinister feeling red chakra leaked out of his stomach in astounding quantities. The boy's shirt ripped, exposing what he knew to be the seal of the Kyūbi. However, horrific as the scene in front of him was, it was only about to get worse.

The body continued to rise off of the ground from the force of the red chakra that was now pouring from him in copious amounts, even as the villagers that had been around the area began quaking in fear. Most of them had already lost control of their bladders, unable to handle the amount of killing intent that the chakra was naturally laced with.

The chakra itself rose about many of the buildings, expanding and taking form in the air. Everyone in the village that had sensing capabilities felt the sinister feeling immediately, and turned to the source before many struggled to continue standing at what they saw. The chakra formed the head of the Kyūbi itself, as if it were an astral projection, before it released a blood curling roar that could be heard for miles around the village.

* * *

**(With Kushina)**

The red haired woman was simply waiting at home to see her son again, not having been assigned any duties lately. Though she was a Jonin, Minato kept her around much of the time. He had been trying to talk her into taking a Genin team, though she had been putting it off for a while.

'_Maybe I should take a team…'_ she thought as the idea rolled around in her head. _'My Naru-chan is getting big enough to start to take care of himself during the days, so maybe…'_

Her thoughts were cutoff immediately, however, as she recognized the most sinister chakra she had ever felt. Though many in the village could not sense it when she did, her previous experience with being the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi allowed her to sense the signature extremely easily.

"Naruto!" the woman yelled as she immediately slammed open the front door of the estate and sprinted towards the chakra.

* * *

**(With Hiruzen) **

The retired Hokage was happily sitting within his personal office in casual clothing, working on his calligraphy. Though many people took him to be the type of man who did nothing but read porn in his off-time, he did have infinitely more productive hobbies. At the moment, he was simply doing it to keep his hand steady, though it was also what he did when he was in heavy thought.

Approximately a week ago, Minato had come to him with a very special request. While Hiruzen had to admit he was intrigued by the idea, it was one that had to be given some thought towards before being done. He had not taken a proper student since the 3 Sannin, and many people viewed them to be too eccentric to be valuable to the village at the moment.

'_Perhaps…just once more…'_ Hiruzen thought with a smile. _'Naruto seems the type that would be excellent in-'_

His thoughts, however, were cutoff as a chakra he had truthfully hoped never to feel again registered itself to him.

'_Naruto!'_ Hiruzen thought immediately, rushing to the case that held his old battle suit. As he quickly pulled off his clothing and slipped into the suit, a horrendous roar echoed throughout the village.

'_Not again…'_ the old man thought as he finished dressing and jumped out of a nearby window from the Sarutobi estate. Wasting no time, he hopped up to the nearest roof and saw the head of the Kyūbi manifesting itself in the sky, though several times larger than what he remembered.

'_Kami help us,'_ Hiruzen thought as he continued on towards the source of many of his nightmares.

* * *

**(With Minato)**

The blonde Hokage was sitting behind his desk in his casual outfit. Honestly, he had a distaste for the Kage robes and only wore them when required. He was currently laughing hysterically at the antics of the man across from him.

"Oh man, you will never learn will you, Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked with a smile.

Said Sannin was sitting across him with his feet propped up on the desk, telling him of one of his "research trips" that he had made while traveling to individuals that are within his spy network. He had come back for his quarterly report, though there was no major news of note. They usually caught up for a day in the office, he would stay at the estate for around a week, and then he would leave to once again help keep the village secure.

Despite his many, many faults, Minato respected the man as the father he never had gotten to know. While not doing anything to lecherous, he was a force to be reckoned with and loyal to a fault towards Konoha.

It was as the humor was dying down, however, that Minato's right palm stung. He stiffened in his seat immediately, causing Jiraiya to look at him with concern. As he brought his palm up in disbelief, he looked at it to see the individual kanji that made him his son's name.

He immediately stood up, sending the Hokage chair back several feet from how quickly he had done so. Turning to the view of the village from the windows, Jiraiya quickly walked over to see the ominous red chakra pouring out at a horrible rate into the air from the outer edge of the village.

"Naruto!" Minato shouted as he immediately formed and slammed a **Rasengan** (Spiraling Sphere) through the wall and immediately dashed out of. Though he had lined several spots within the village with his Hiraishin seal, the area the chakra was coming from had none of them nearby.

Jiraiya immediately followed, not even choosing to yell at Minato to slow down, as he knew he'd be doing the same thing in his situation. The two honored men within Konoha could not help but hold back the fear they felt as the chakra took the shape of the Kyūbi's head within the sky, which was a sight that neither of them ever hoped to see again.

Jiraiya, following behind Minato as fast as he could, felt drops of water hit his cheek. Looking up, he saw heavy storm clouds forming above Konoha, though they didn't seem to be dropping water heavily just yet

In reality, the kanji on Minato's hand was specifically designed to tell him if either Kushina or his son were in mortal danger. He had applied a small seal near the heart of each of them that would immediately trigger if the heartbeat became incredibly weak or stopped all together. The worse his palm burnt, the worse the situation was, and his palm felt as if it were on fire.

"Please be okay son," Minato said weakly as he jumped forward. He looked up into the sky and saw the clouds, but thought nothing of it. "Please don't take my son from me. Not now…" It was then that the Kyūbi's horrible roar echoed throughout the village.

Many others throughout the village had a similar mindset, and immediately rushed to the scene. Many younger children, civilians, and Genin, however, were unconscious from the extreme Ki that overwhelmed the village in its entirety. Many Chunin found their bodies unwilling to move, and even some of the lower Jonin had the same problem. However, despite this, they forced themselves to move towards the scene.

* * *

**(Back with Naruto)**

Gai continued staring in disbelief at what was happening, as he was the only one within the immediate area that was powerful enough to remain conscious. The strong KI pouring out seemed to become worse the closer you got, and even the mighty green beast found himself struggling to stand within 5 yards of what was occurring.

Naruto's body was now levitating horizontally in the air, though a great deal of the chakra had diverted from going up into the air and into the knife wound in his heart. As this was occurring, the group closest to Naruto arrived. Sarutobi, Minato, Kushina, and Jiraiya all arrived around the same time. They took in the scene in a state of horror even as they shook slightly from a variety of emotions. The 3 men made their way over towards Gai with Kushina being forced over in Minato's arms even as she tried to force herself free of his strong grip around her.

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" Minato shouted with a look that could kill towards the Jonin.

"That man," Gai pointed over to where a man was lying indented into a building, "attacked Naruto while I was running on my hands and managed to strike him before I could get to him. He seemingly came out of the earth, and I couldn't even sense him. He must've been at least elite-Jonin to ANBU level."

Jiraiya immediately used a **Shunshin** **(Body Flicker Technique)** to bring himself to the man before he sealed him within a scroll to retrieve later. Right now, their main priority was what was going on.

"What's going on?" Gai asked sincerely as he didn't know much about sealing. They watched, actually intrigued, as the stream of chakra finally cut itself off. As Kushina was a relatively good sensor, she could tell it was about half of the total chakra that the Kyūbi held.

"I…I don't know," Minato admitted somewhat shakily. "If it was the Kyūbi being released, it would've been out already. Plus, that's only about half of the total chakra the demon holds. I have absolutely no idea what's happening here."

Even Hiruzen and Jiraiya stared up in confusion at the now swirling mass of chakra in the air, also confused as to what was going on. However, that's when it began.

Even as many of the individual clan heads and faster individual Jonin and Chunin arrived on the scene, the swirling mass of red chakra began to sink down towards the ground again. As it neared Naruto, however, a small stream of it slivered down from the large mass and hovered for a moment before it began to flow into the young blonde's mouth.

Everyone watched, still in a state of shock, as the mass of sinister chakra began to dissipate into the blonde, though it was a slow process. Anyone who was observing the boy's body, which was no small number, saw how his body expanded as the chakra flowed into him. He grew several inches immediately, and his muscles bulged out against his skin. His face was visibly contorting in pain, though he still appeared to be unconscious.

Several Hyūga within the crowd, Hiashi himself included, activated their Byakugan to see what was happening to the boy's chakra network. He had been examined before, and the change was a bit interesting. While there was still a mass of red chakra at the core of his stomach where the seal was located, there was also a mix of blue and red chakra running through his normal network now as well. The red chakra, in particular, bunched itself up at the chakra coils of the blonde boy, expanding them rapidly.

They watched in horror, thinking that there was no way anyone could survive that massive surge. However, the Kyūbi was not one to lie when it came to its own survival. Thanks to the now increased healing factor the boy had, his body could handle the rapid change, even if it was incredibly painful.

As his chakra coils expanded, the remaining chakra in the air flowed into him faster and faster, before it was eventually all drawn inside. The sky, though it looked like it was going to storm, began to sprinkle rain as the last bit of chakra was drawn into the boy.

Naruto's body then roughly crashed to the ground, though it was only about a 2 foot drop. However, before anyone could even rush over to him, he began to stir. His eyes opened and he stared into the sky, revealing his uniquely colored blue eyes that were a trademark of the Namikaze. His first conscious action afterwards was to let out a pained groan.

"Naruto!" shouted Kushina as she immediately bolted forward, almost immediately followed by Minato. Gai, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen then slowly made their way over towards him even as the villagers around the area began to awaken and the shinobi began to murmur amongst themselves as to what happened.

Minato, overhearing some of the worse whispers, immediately had everyone place a hand on his son as he used Hiraishin to bring them all to the middle of his office within the Hokage tower. Naruto was still lying on the ground as everyone looked at him, as he seemed fully aware of what was going on.

He smiled, much to the surprise of everyone around. He looked over to his mother, staring her right in the eyes and noticed the tears that were on the edges of her eyes.

"Please…don't say I told you so," Naruto said to his mother with an even bigger smile than before.

Minato let off a small, relieved chuckle while Kushina simply smothered the boy in a bone-breaking hug as the tears leaked out around her eyes. The blonde Hokage took a moment to wipe away some of his own tears, knowing his son was alright. Walking over to his desk, he activated a privacy seal that wouldn't be affected by the hole in the wall before he turned back to his son and Gai.

"Alright, now how about you tell us exactly what happened?" Minato asked.

* * *

Alright, an immediate Chapter 2 for this story since the first chapter was only like 3.5k words, figured I'd at least bump it up a bit more than that.

For those that are curious, I'm basically using the 5 elemental affinity thing as the "unique skill" that the Bijū give a container, as I intend to give them all increased healing. Also, the incident will help him progress a lot faster a lot younger than he usually would be able to. It's one of the big reasons that I gave the God-mode warning in the Author's notes.

As usual, thanks for anything you do to support the story. I'll note once more that this is **not** going to be my main story, so please don't expect frequent updates. I'll probably tackle this one fully when/if I finish my other one.

Until I update again, see you all next time!


	3. 4 Years Later

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's a good thing I don't.

**Chapter 3: 4 Years**

* * *

(4 years later)

"Fuck!" Naruto shouted as he was slammed into the ground once more.

"Again," a voice repeated. "Surely you're not going to let an old man beat you? After all, if you want to take the hat from your father, I'm just small fry."

Naruto smiled towards the source of the voice, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The old man was standing in his combat suit in a very unique combat stance, the advanced stance of the Drunken Monkey fighting style.

There was a lot more unconventional movement to throw off enemy attacks in his style, which made the Sharingan practically useless in a fight against it. The style relied on incredibly strength, speed, and reflex similar to Gōken, but the areas they tried to strike were completely different. While Gai's style would focus on breaking enemy bones, Drunken Monkey style focuses on the weaker areas of the body. Basic strikes included eye gouges, kidney shots, and even groin punches. All in all, not exactly an honorable combat style, but incredibly effective nonetheless.

Hiruzen, while having not used it for a very long time due to his age, was still the only true master of the style within the village, and quite possibly in the world. He had happily agreed to train the boy in it amongst other things, while others gave their own training to the boy. The time dedicated to Taijutsu was split between Hiruzen and Gai, each of them instilling their own style on the boy in hopes that he could combine best aspects the two styles one day. Gai handled physical training as well, seeing as he was the shinobi in the best shape within the village.

As such, Naruto did of course wear weights, even if it was a bit different than others might expect. Instead of the usual weights along the legs and possibly the arms, his father had gifted him with his first seal tattoo. The tattoo began at his heart as a central point, and expanded to all 4 limbs. The tattoo resembled a chain, swirling around his arms and legs several times to ensure that all of the muscle groups were touched by the ink. (I know that this was done by someone already, and I remember thinking that I wanted nothing more than to use it in my own story. However, I have no idea which author or story it was that I got the idea from. If you're ever reading this, whoever you are, thank you for the idea!)

The tattoo itself allowed the wearer to adjust the weight it applied to each limb easily by channeling chakra through the point over the heart. Even at 8 years old, Naruto was already up to 200 pounds of weight on each leg along with 125 pounds on each of his arms. While it would tear the muscles of anyone else his age, his increased regeneration ability allowed him to do it without any major harm.

His Taijutsu was going well, extremely well actually. Though Hiruzen and Gai were both hard on the boy, he had actually began combining the two styles to a remarkable extent. He maintained the movements from Drunken Monkey style, making him difficult to hit and letting him use a lot of feints on the enemy to get through their guard. If he could get to the vital areas, he would and he would hit them with the trademark force of advanced Gōken style users. However, if he couldn't hit vital spots, he was more than happy to simply aim to break bones and joints of the body. It was, in Hiruzen and Gai's opinions, one of the most deadly styles of Taijutsu they had seen since Jūken.

For the past year, Naruto had been spending substantially more time with Hiruzen than Gai, simply because the Jonin had taken a team again. While he was happy the man had taken a group of students, he was saddened that he had to meet the man in private for lessons. What was worse was that his miniature, Lee, seemed to almost stalk the man most of the time. However, after some stern words from Gai, he acknowledged that he would not try to spy on or interrupt the training he was providing Naruto. The reason for scaring him away was simply that Minato refused to let the other children know of Naruto's true abilities, at least for now. So, the blonde spent Wednesday and Friday evenings with Gai on his form whereas he spent the mornings of every day but Sunday with Hiruzen studying and improving on his Taijutsu.

As Naruto arose and brushed himself off, Hiruzen told him to take a break. As Naruto gratefully sat down for a bit of a breather, more for Hiruzen than for him as the old man was breathing rather heavily since they had been going at it for hours, he couldn't help but think about how the last 4 years had changed him.

First of all, he had taken a fascination with the color black. Although it wasn't his favorite color, he insisted on wearing entirely black clothing to get used to it for when he became a shinobi. After 4 years of enduring the hatred and animosity the villagers directed towards him, he had learned the value of being able to blend into a crowd.

Currently, he was clad in a high-collared, black, long-sleeved shirt along with loose-fitting, black pants than ran all the way to his ankles. He coupled this with black boots, electing for close-toed footwear over sandals. He had also taken up wearing a pair of fully-fingered black gloves. They black plating along the outside of the back of the hand and the knuckles, ensuring they would deal a bit of extra damage when they hit. However, the plates were small and jointed, ensuring they wouldn't lock up when making hand seals.

He had also grown his hair out, ensuring that he would be able to learn Jiraiya's hair techniques later along the road. Minato had informed him about the usefulness of the techniques, so he wanted to ensure that his hair was of appropriate length. As it stood, it ran in a small mane down to the top of his shoulder blades. However, despite the mane, it remained spikey just as his father's hair was.

Other than his advanced Taijutsu training, he had also become incredibly skilled in weapons. In particular, however, he was training with 3 individual types. The primary weapon of choice, fitting into his fighting style, was a Bo Staff. He had taken up to training with this weapon in particular simply because Hiruzen said it fit very well with his Taijutsu style, which the blonde had to agree with. The staff, which was as tall as he was, was composed of a simply black steel with white tips at either end. If one end was set on the ground next to him, the staff rose to Naruto's exact height. He had to change staffs every year or so, but he always kept it simple, for the time being anyway.

He had also taken to training in the weapon with Hiruzen during his Taijutsu time, and the previous Hokage was all too happy when he announced that the blonde was just as skilled as he was thanks to using his **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** (Shadow Clone Technique) to create copies and memorize the forms. He had used the clones in memorizing his Taijutsu forms as well, but he still needed more work before he truly mastered hand-to-hand fighting. When he fought with his staff against Hiruzen or Gai, he could actually put bruises on the men at this point if they weren't taking him relatively seriously, much to their genuine surprise.

His second weapon was one his mother had insisted he wield, which was a Katana. Although she had taken a Genin team on within the past year, she had taught him some advanced forms for it already. He knew couldn't quite fight her if it came to pure skill, and she was still faster and stronger than he was for the moment. He knew several techniques with the weapon by now as well, but he rarely used them other than to practice. All in all, he was skilled with the sword, but still needed more practice.

His blade was of a fine quality, as his parents had splurged a bit for him. The sheath was a light blue color, with 2 black lines twisting from the bottom to the top. The blade itself was made of a special chakra metal that gave it a white coloration. However, when he channeled any sort of chakra into the blade, it also glowed a light blue color that matched the sheath and his eyes. He gave the blade a name after he ran wind chakra through it for the first time, appropriately titling it "The Blue Fang," thanks to the _slightly _curved shape and color it took. (I'm still calling it a Katana even if it's technically not, it only has a very mild curve. Just roll with it.)

His third and final weapon was something nobody really suspected he would use, nor was it one he kept on his person at any given time. He had specially engraved a summoning seal into the handle of a unique gunbai his parents owned. This allowed him to summon the weapon at will so long as the handle remained in one piece, and would summon the handle right into whatever palm he summoned it with. The best part about the sealing array was that it required no hand signs. The only thing he had to do to bring the weapon out was think about catching it in his palm, and it would appear.

His parents had been surprised both when he managed to find the weapon and when he asked to wield it. While they originally were against it, they couldn't deny him the chance to use a weapon that was once so powerful, though they elected not to tell him the history of it just yet. It was completely unconventional, at least until he could manipulate elemental chakra a bit better, but if he liked it then he liked it.

In terms of sealing, Naruto was taking up after his father. Although still young, he had the privilege of being the youngest Konoha shinobi to reach Seal Master level 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. He was on the verge of level 2, but not there just yet. He had made a great deal of shadow clones and dedicated himself to the art, ensuring his handwriting was appropriately up to par before he did any actual seal work. Thanks to the fact that calligraphy was merely muscle memory, it allowed him to improve his handwriting through seals just as he would improve his fighting and weapon forms through them.

Aside from sealing, he also studied heavily in other areas as well. Biology, math, stealth tips, elemental chakra tips, history, and pretty much every other area of academics he engrossed himself in. For the past 3 years, he had 100 clones going through books, scrolls, and even simple written messages that people close to him had given him. All in all, he had well surpassed expected knowledge of any Genin. However, that was expected when you get the retained knowledge of 100 people reading all day, every single day. If he couldn't train for one reason or another, he was reading and studying even more intensely than usual.

In terms of Genjutsu, he was a complete and utter flop. The fact was that he couldn't pull a low enough level of chakra to use any Genjutsu technique without alerting the enemy that someone was effecting their chakra system. However, no one could use one on him either thanks to the Kyūbi's connection with him. In that area, at least, he was pretty much neutral. His mother, his father, Jiraiya, and even Sarutobi had all become heroes without using any Genjutsu whatsoever, so he wasn't too upset about it.

And finally, there was Ninjutsu. While he had struggled with chakra control at first, even with Kage Bunshin which his father had made him learn immediately thanks to the high reserves the chakra of the Kyūbi gave him. After about 6 months of refining it down as much as they could without a natural waterfall around for waterfall running, he moved on to learning actual techniques.

After using a sheet of chakra paper, it turned out the Kyūbi was absolutely true to his word about his natural affinities. Though nothing like it had ever been seen, the chakra paper simply turned black at his touch. It didn't rip, it didn't get soggy, it didn't crinkle, it didn't catch fire, nor did it crumble, it just turned black. While confused at first, Naruto had mastered every D rank elemental jutsu he gave him within an hour with his Kage Bunshin. Though still somewhat in denial from the event, Minato had just told himself to train his son in everything he could.

Every single element he possessed was on an extremely high level, as the techniques came naturally to him. His father, though astonished, had admitted that his elemental Ninjutsu repertoire would quickly surpass his own. Minato himself was Wind and Fire, and couldn't use anything above D-ranks of the others. However, Naruto had proven himself already by mastering a C-rank technique of every element. Minato had claimed that, if it weren't for wanting to keep his true skills hidden, he would have awarded him Genin rank on the spot.

Even Hiruzen and Kakashi were genuinely surprised at how good he was at the ninja art, going so far as to praise him for being a prodigy. Hiruzen had taught him every non-deadly elemental jutsu he knew, and the kid still showed no sign of slowing down. Kakashi, the man who had copied 1,000 jutsu, had done the same. He held many of his techniques back, but only because Minato forbid teaching him B-rank jutsu or above until he hit 9 years old at the very youngest.

As Naruto snapped out of thinking how much he had improved, he realized Hiruzen had been trying to talk to him.

"Sorry Jiji," Naruto began in a friendly tone, "what'd you say again?"

"I asked if you were excited to start the academy tomorrow," Hiruzen responded in a grandfather-ish type of curiosity.

The blonde, however, just gave a small sigh. "Not really," he admitted. "I fully recognize that it's to try to gain me friends and so that I can work on a team, but I can't help but feel that those kids will simply treat me the same. Even the few villagers that would talk to me a long time ago won't after…the incident," Naruto said as he used the least offensive word to describe the situation.

"_**You act as if you are not grateful," **_responded a voice in his head. Ever since he recovered from being stabbed in the heart, as told, the Kyūbi had been able to communicate with him telepathically. The blonde actually enjoyed talking to it, at least until it started telling him to burn or kill people. Thankfully, he was able to shut off the link between them at will, which was something that the fox had not been expecting.

'_You know full well I'm grateful to you, Kurama, but it still doesn't make it suck any less,'_ Naruto responded with his thoughts. The blonde had realized that it was called the Kyūbi only after Hashirama first sealed it, even though the fox itself had claimed it lived for centuries. After the incident, and Naruto asked for its real name and got it, they had actually gotten along much better. It seemed that was a "trial" of sorts for the beast to begin to like its host.

"_**I suppose I can't blame you for thinking that, though you could easily just kill the ungrateful bastards. If I was free, you know…"**_

'_Don't make me cut the link so early today…'_ Naruto threatened as he realized it wasn't even noon yet.

"_**Fine," **_Kurama responded as he grumbled about ungrateful meat bags.

"Well," Hiruzen said as Naruto realized he had zoned out from the old man's again. Thankfully, he hadn't seemed to miss much. "I know you've had a tough time, Naruto, but you have shown more promise than even Orochimaru did when I trained him. I don't want to see you do something horrible to the village from feeling loneliness. I want you to have friends, and to even eventually find love one day."

"Ick," Naruto responded to the last bit of the man's topic.

Hiruzen let out a grandfatherly chuckle as he ruffled Naruto's hair playfully. "You'll understand one day, probably not too far in the future either."

"We'll see about that, Jiji. You about ready to start again?

Hiruzen chuckled, but nodded his head. "Thankfully, my stamina has gone up a bit after having to fight someone with as much energy as you."

"Well, you'll still be seeing a lot of me even after I start the academy. I intend to progress as fast as I can," Naruto responded.

Hiruzen merely nodded, though somewhat sadly. He was happy to see he was so eager to improve, but someone sad by the fact that he seemed to have no life outside of training at the moment. "Let's get started then," he said as he took the advanced form of Drunken Monkey style, though he summoned Enma in Adamantine form this time.

"Ohhh, the big guns," Naruto responded with a grin as he took out his own staff. "Bring it on, Jiji!"

* * *

Alright, I went ahead and edited and posted this chapter since I was somewhat bored anyway. Hope you enjoy.

Sorry for lack of combat thus far, but I needed to get some other "this is what he did through the time skip" stuff out of the way.

I know several people might not like the fighting style I'm giving him or the fact that he's going to be skilled at 3 different weapons, but all I ask is that you at least give it a chance. Personally, I like the idea of having been trained in a style that makes you go for weak points and uses movements to throw off your opponent. Mix that with a style that can break bones, and someone's going to have a bad day.

With the weapons, it's going to be purely situational. Katana for most normal fights, Bo staff for a select few, gunbai mostly to use wind stuff. You get the idea.

See you all in the next chapter.


	4. First Impressions

**Chapter 4: First Impressions**

* * *

(Next Day)

Naruto found himself walking on a small dirt road towards the academy for his first day. Naturally, since it was around 7 A.M. villagers were abundant in the street. However, as per the usual, there was a nice clearing around him as if there was an invisible force field that people could not enter.

He was wearing his usual clothes, though he felt naked without his Katana or staff on him, as such weapons were forbidden within the academy. However, as of last night, his mother had stitched the Namikaze clan symbol and Uzumaki clan swirl on the back of his black shirt. The Uzumaki swirl sat in between his shoulder blade while the relatively new Namikaze symbol, a tri-pronged kunai pointing downwards, was a few inches below it.

He wore his usual gloves, pants, and boots along with his shirt. Though he looked good, it wasn't particularly outstanding, which he supposed was a good thing. He grumbled a bit after his father had talked to him, though he couldn't say he didn't understand. In summary, he had been told to be average at the academy. He wasn't to be outstanding, but neither was he to be a failure. Despite understanding the issue, Naruto's competitive nature didn't want to let anyone be the best but him. However, he would quell that nature if needed. If nothing else, he supposed it could be used as a test of deception.

As he approached the academy, he noticed that several shinobi were considering barring his entry, but eventually let him pass. He knew it was only likely because of who his father was, but it wasn't important at the moment. As he walked into the fenced-in area outside of the main academy building, he took notice of all of the kids with parents around them, most of whom glared, then pointed to him and whispered something to their children.

Naruto frowned inwardly at seeing this, but didn't let it show on his person. He had been told to expect it, and though he didn't like it, he would accept it. He was a bit disappointed his parents couldn't be here, but he understood why. However, he did get a surprise a moment later when a hand landed on his shoulder. As he turned around, he couldn't help but grin in surprise.

"Jiji!" Naruto greeted loudly enough for several shinobi to gasp at how informally he talked to the previous Hokage. "I wasn't expecting you to come and see me," Naruto admitted.

"Now what kind of surrogate grandfather would I be if I didn't come and see my grandson on his first day of becoming a…what was it? A super awesome and amazing shinobi like my father, right?" The old man couldn't help but laugh as Naruto's face blushed a little from his own words a while ago and crossed his arms defensively and pouted. Despite being more powerful than your average Chunin, he was still a child after all.

As Hiruzen looked around, he whistled silently. There were several clan heirs within the class, so if Naruto could make friends with them he would be in a good spot to actually become Hokage one day. He just hoped that they would find a way to get along.

As he was glancing over everyone, however, the academy door opened and revealed Iruka. The man had dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, dark eyes, and a scar that ran directly across the bridge of his nose. Along with it, he wore standard-issue Chunin gear with his sleeves rolled up a bit.

"All first year students, please line up in single file in front of me. I will be your homeroom instructor, Umino Iruka. However, while you're being taught here, you will address me as Iruka-sensei."

As the students lined up and parents began to leave, Hiruzen couldn't help the frown that grew on his face when he heard the parents whispering about the Kyūbi. As the old man watched Naruto, though it was subtle, it was clear that he had heard what they were saying.

However, among the crowd stood 2 men watching the blonde with curious stares. One of these men was Aburame Shibi, clan head of the Aburame. Hiruzen could immediately tell that he didn't dislike the boy for the burden he held, and it likely made him respect the blonde more. Like Naruto, the Aburame clan took a burden among themselves at birth in order to assist the village.

Many thought that the Aburame did this to themselves due to their love of bugs. While that might be the case now, it was not the case when the Shodai Hokage first created Konoha with Uchiha Madara. The Aburame clan, while still powerful, were merely insect tamers and breeders at the time. However, when Konoha asked it of them, they implanted the bugs they called kikaichū inside of their own bodies so they would be able to control them in combat. With the abilities they created, they were able to become some of the best tracking and infiltration specialists within Konoha. Thanks to this sacrifice, and the burden they placed on themselves, they were awarded the title of being one of the four noble clans of Konoha.

Hiruzen could immediately see that Shibi, at the very least, would not prevent Shino from becoming friends with the boy. However, it likely wouldn't be a very fruitful friendship, as Aburame were known for being rather emotionless most of the time. Regardless, it could still prove mildly beneficial.

The other man within the clearing, whom Hiruzen was surprised to see looking at the blonde, was none other than Hyūga Hiashi. Presumably, it was likely just because Minato was a very close friend to the man. The Yellow Flash was one of the very select group of people who Hiashi acted himself around, and he was always very friendly to those people in every aspect of life when he was able to.

Although the Hyūga clan head had been pressured by the clan elders to keep Hinata away from the boy, Hiashi had a rough idea of the boy's actual progress. He could only hope that he could help his daughter in the way he couldn't.

However, before he could think further on the topic at hand, the line of students began to move into the academy as the door shut. He wouldn't force his daughter to speak to the boy, but he hoped beyond reason that the Namikaze could help her like Minato did him.

Back with the students, however, they filed quickly into the academy getting a very rough tour. This was mostly to show them emergency exits, restrooms, and acknowledgement room. The acknowledgement room, in particular, grabbed many of the student's attention. Large, framed photographs were hanging around the room, displaying famous ninja who had graduated under the curriculum the academy used. This was to try and demonstrate that the students could become legends if they simply went along with what they taught.

Many of the student split up and went to look at some of the pictures, curious as to who they could be. Naruto walked slowly along them all until he came to one particular photo, before he stopped and simply grinned as he looked at it. On the wall showed a Yondaime Hokage when he was around 16 years old. The young blonde couldn't help but notice the similarities the two of them shared, and simply smirked knowing that he was the man's son without a shadow of a doubt.

Naruto then glanced around, noticing that many of the students seemed to be looking at a few photographs in particular. A black-haired boy in an Uchiha shirt was standing in front of a photograph of Itachi, the proclaimed recent prodigy of the clan. A raven-haired girl in a black t-shirt and black pants that came to mid-calf was standing in front of a photograph of a stoic Hiashi, the current clan head of the Hyūga clan.

Similarly, he noticed that the rest of the people in the class seemed to be lingering at people they knew or were related to. However, Naruto decided to continue moving along. He didn't disturb anyone that was already at one of the photographs. Relatively quickly he found himself standing in front of the 2 main pictures in the room that were even larger than the rest.

While they didn't technically graduate from the academy, the Sandaime had decided to have the photos of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara enlarged and displayed prominently in the room. Being the 2 major founding forces that created Konoha, it was important that the students knew of their significance. Even though Madara was largely known for being a traitor, he was still one of the founding forces of Konoha in the end.

Naruto found himself staring intently at the 2 men, though he wasn't sure why. He had read about them time and time again within the past 4 years, but something just felt different when seeing their pictures. In particular, however, he was drawn to the prominently glowing Sharingan that Madara possessed in the picture. Unlike most Uchiha, Madara's eyes actually gave off a passive red glow that he was unable to stop, though no one had ever given description as to why that was. As he continued to look into the mesmerizing eyes, he couldn't help but let a small smile touch his lips.

Looking over to Hashirama, he couldn't help but let the smile touching his lips grow a bit larger. He knew all too well of the Mokuton, and just how valuable it was to the foundation of Konoha. The man was captured in his trademark red Senju-style armor, with giant grin on his face. Naruto couldn't help but feel drawn to the man, as if they would've gotten along very well if they were both alive.

As he stood before the 2 founders of Konoha, he couldn't help but feel a bit marveled. Even though they were only pictures, it somehow seemed as if he was gaining the acceptance of both of them.

'_I'm going to surpass you both one day, ancestors,' _Naruto thought to himself as he thought back to the day he found out the truth of his heritage from his father.

* * *

**(Flashback Time! 1 year ago) **

Naruto stood with his father at the secret training ground he had been using for years. They only came out here for the boy's Ninjutsu training, as it required Hiraishin to get to and back from in a timely manner. It was approximately 10 miles away from the village, which Minato felt was far enough not to draw too much attention. To increase security though, he had his most trusted ANBU surrounding the field out of hearing range.

"One more time, son," Minato whispered as he looked into Naruto's eyes closely.

"Ugh…fine," Naruto grunted, just wanting to get back to Ninjutsu training. Once more, as he had done multiple times now, he channeled a fair amount of chakra into his eyes as he felt the world change around him. Everything became a dull black and white color, though he knew that any chakra being emitted would have color depending on how it was used. He also found himself able to read his father's lips infinitely easier, which he found to be quite interesting.

Minato, meanwhile, simply stared at the boy in awe. Naruto had mentioned that he could change his eyesight when he channeled chakra towards it, which the blonde Hokage had jumped onto immediately. For the third time in a row, Naruto's genetically inherited blue eyes turned into menacingly glowing red ones with 1 black tomoe in each one.

'_Well I'll be a son of a bitch, it's back,' _Minato thought to himself. _'If he has the Sharingan, then I wonder…'_

"Naruto," Minato began, "I want you to wait here for a minute. I'll be right back." Before the blonde boy could even respond, his father had disappeared in a yellow flash.

Moments later, the blonde Kage came back into the training ground at the Hiraishin seal he had engraved into a tree. He walked calmly over to his son with a giant scroll in his hands, though he also had a very nervous look on his face.

"Alright son, we're going to do something a bit different today. Instead of teaching you more wind techniques, we're going to see if you have the capability to use a very special technique that the village had thought we lost for good."

Naruto, not one to turn down a challenge, had accepted and threw himself into it vigorously.

Approximately 1 hour later, Minato watched in interest as his son finally finished reading the basics of the scroll. Mokuton, though powerful, was not an easy element to wield even for those that had the capability to do so. He watched even closer as Naruto closed his eyes and clapped his gloved hands together, channeling a hefty amount of chakra as he did.

Minato was about to tell him to stop when it happened. Though it was small, a tendril of wood rose up from the ground several feet before it stopped. Try as he might, he couldn't help the gigantic grin that crossed his face.

'_Sharingan and Mokuton,' _Minato thought. _'You truly will surpass me one day son, and it won't be long from now.'_

"Alright," Minato spoke as he took the scroll away from Naruto and rolled it back up. "Let's go home for now. I need to get your mother, and we need to talk."

"But I wanted to train more, we barely got any time in today at all!" Naruto said as he pouted slightly.

His eyes were closed when he felt his father's hand rest on the top of his head and ruffled through his hair playfully. "I know Naruto, but this is important."

The blonde Hokage quickly Hiraishined them into the Namikaze estate before he disappeared again in a yellow flash. Moments later, however, he returned with Kushina who was giving him a questioning expression. She had been in the middle of training a fresh Genin squad and wasn't too happy about being interrupted. Thankfully, she had the Hiraishin seal imbedded into her wedding ring now, just as Naruto had it imbedded into his weight seal tattoo.

"He has them," Minato said as she looked at him blankly, seemingly confused by the statement. They shared a mutual stare, before Minato explained further. "Kushina, he has _them_." After another long few moments of staring at each other, the woman whipped her head towards her son fiercely before looking back at her husband with eyes the size of saucers.

"_**Both?!**_" she screamed rather loudly. Minato just nodded his head in response as she stood with her hand on her forehead in shock at the news. Minato disappeared momentarily again before he came back. He quickly walked towards the black-clad blonde with a rather large book. After a quick motion of his hand, the entire Namikaze family found themselves sitting on a couch in their living room. Their son sat in the middle with a parent on either side.

"Naruto," Minato said softly, "I think it's time you learn some things about your family.

For the next few hours, Kushina and Minato both went over their family trees with him, beginning as far back as they had both recorded. The book Minato had returned with held detailed records of both family trees as well as many pages dedicated to photographs and paintings of certain individuals. The Namikaze, they said, were a clan that was started up 3 decades ago by a group of wayward Uchiha. One of these members was named Uchiha Michio, Madara's son.

Most clans would refuse to let go of line that prestigious, but it had not shown any potential in that generation, so they had gladly let him leave, claiming that they were useless shinobi anyway. Michio had been an extremely skilled ninja, but was never treated as anything special by the Uchiha since he had never activated his dōjutsu. Since he had desired nothing more than respect for being a skilled shinobi, he and several others had left and formed the smaller Namikaze clan, as they were no longer allowed to call themselves Uchiha. Michio and his wife had a son together, Minato, though Michio died shortly after he was born. While Minato himself also lacked the Sharingan, he could only theorize that the dormant genes must have come to fruition in Naruto.

Similarly, on Kushina's side, he was told that she was a descendant of Mito and Hashirama. The two of them had several children, one of which was even the mother of Tsunade. One of these children, Kayami, had taken the Uzumaki clan name in honor of her mother and moved back to their ancestral home when she was old enough. Kayami had been Kushina's mother, though she had died when the city was invaded by Iwa. Thus, Tsunade and Kushina could even be considered to be cousins of a sort, though of different clans. Naruto was, therefore, also a descendant of the legendary Senju Hashirama even if he didn't share the Senju name.

"So what you're telling me," Naruto began, "is that I'm an heir of the Senju and Uchiha clans as well as the Uzumaki and the Namikaze?"

"That is the case," Minato stated. "So, now that you know, I'm afraid you aren't allowed to tell anyone else about this for the time being. It's considered highly classified information. If rumor were to get out, people wouldn't hesitate to try to use you for their own goals."

The blonde boy simply nodded, already having read many books on politics and political power. He knew all too well that, despite being hated, people would try to pamper him if he was found to be the descendant of the two most powerful leaf shinobi in history.

* * *

**(Flashback over. Back to the photo room!)**

"Intimidating, aren't they?" asked a boy who had come up on Naruto's right side.

The blonde glanced over, seeing a boy with a high-collared coat and sunglasses. He currently wore a pair of brown pants along with typical blue sandals. Judging from the slight buzz Naruto could hear with his acute hearing, he immediately pegged him as an Aburame.

"The power they held, yes. The men themselves, not so much," Naruto responded. "Hashirama was regarded as one of the morally guided men in history. While Madara had his issues, he was also regarded to have Konoha's best interests at heart, even if many people viewed his ideas as wrong. However, I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I am Namikaze Naruto," he said as he stuck his hand forward in a friendly gesture.

"Aburame Shino," he stated as he shook the blonde's hand. "The arguments you presented…I must admit I wasn't expecting someone like you to think so logically."

Naruto merely smiled before he gave a soft chuckle. "I guess I'm just surprising like that." As he glanced around the room and took in the students who were beginning to gather around the center and talk to one another, he noted that he was the tallest by several inches.

"I suppose we should group up with the others," Naruto stated as he began to walk away.

"Yes, I suppose we should," Shino commented as he walked alongside with him.

"Alright class!" Iruka said loud enough to gain everyone's attention after they mingled for a few minutes. "If everyone will please follow me, we'll head to the classroom now."

After a few moments of walking, the class came into what would be their classroom for the next several years and began taking their seats. It turned out that there were exactly enough seats for everyone. Many of the kids sat next to their friends or people they at least recognized, as each desk held 3 people. Naruto, not wanting to get in the way of others, simply went to the desk on the top left of the elevated area. He took a seat in the middle of the desk, and could only wonder who was going to get stuck sitting next to him.

To his surprise, however, the boy he met earlier came up and sat on his left side even though there were still seats open. He simply looked over at the boy wearing sunglasses, trying to get some sort of read on him.

"We share similar…burdens," Shino said without looking to towards him. "I am well aware of what you carry, as you are aware of what I carry. Despite this, I am not a kikaichū, nor are you a demon."

Naruto, while stunned at how forward the boy was, simply let a grin touch his face. "Well, it looks like my parents will be rubbing this in my face for the rest of the week. Here I was telling them there was no chance I'd make friends, and I make one on my first day. You're okay, Shino," the blonde finished hitting the Aburame lightly on the shoulder. Despite his gloves being plated, it was a soft enough hit that Shino didn't respond to it.

It was at this point in time where there was only one person left without a seat. The raven-haired girl from before was standing at the front of the classroom, twirling her index fingers together in what seemed to be a nervous habit. It was clear she was incredibly nervous, though her nervousness only multiplied when she saw the only available seat left.

Everyone in the village had been informed of the truth after the "incident" 4 years ago, and there was no law to prevent the parents from telling their children the truth of the matter. Every child in the academy already knew the truth, and Hinata was no exception. However, as she began her slow walk towards the seat and the blonde that was next to it, she managed to glance into his eyes. The girl found something she had never really expected.

Her mind had been tainted, at least someone, about Naruto. While Hiashi himself spoke no ill or positive things of the boy, the other members of the Hyūga clan didn't give the same courtesy. She heard people calling him a monster, a demon, the Kyūbi itself, and even heard the threats they voiced about plans to injure or kill the boy in secret. She had expected to find someone incredibly scary and intimidating, but she saw just the opposite in the boy's eyes. If anything, she saw a bit of herself.

In his eyes resided feelings of pain, loneliness, and sadness. Although he hid it well, it was clear as day to her for some reason. It was only odd because she had never been able to read people before, despite it being one of the things her clan was known to be incredibly skilled at.

As she made her way to the chair at the desk and sat down, she couldn't help but feel even a bit more nervous than before. Despite the fact that she was part of a prestigious clan, she had never really interacted with people her own age before. The closest thing to it had been when she spoke to Neji, but even then he was a year older and held a very strong hatred towards her.

"Hello there," Naruto said softly as she sat down. She turned to the boy and saw that he was giving her a very small smile, though it looked rather forced.

"H-h-h-hello," she responded.

"I'm sure you likely recognize me," Naruto said as his smile dropped into a neutral expression. "Rest assured, I'm not like what everyone says. Regardless, just to be polite, my name is Namikaze Naruto." He finished by extending his hand in a similar fashion as to how he did with Shino a moment ago.

H-H-Hyūga H-Hinata," the girl responded shakily as she slowly reached out and took the boy's hand. "It's n-n-nice to meet y-you."

However, instead of shaking the hand as he did Shino's, he took it gingerly in his own and brought it up, planting a small kiss on the back of it. While it was not a custom used in Fire Country, Naruto had read that it was appropriate etiquette in others, and he quite liked the idea. He glanced up to gauge her reaction, and was surprised to see her blushing mildly across the bridge of her nose.

"It is nice to meet you as well, Hinata," Naruto responded.

The Hyūga heiress could only turn her face forward in an attempt to hide her blush, not knowing what was coming over her.

"Well, why don't we start with introductions?" Iruka stated as he brought the class to attention. They began at the front and worked their way around the room, with Naruto's desk being the last ones that would introduce themselves. While there were around 30 students, only 9 of them really had introductions that gave more information than just their names.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, son of Uchiha Fugaku, head of Konoha's military police. I like training and spending time with my brother. I don't like it when people compare my achievements to those of my brother. The only hobby I have is training. My dream is to one day become head of the Uchiha clan and Military police in Konoha."

"My name is Akimichi Choji. I like eating snacks, and spending time with my friend Shikamaru. My hobbies include finding the most delicious foods in town and writing them in my journal. I dislike fat-free things and people who would hurt my friends. My dream is to one day own my own resteraunt and become head of the Akimichi clan."

"My name is Nara Shikimaru. I enjoy watching clouds and being lazy. My hobbies include games that make you think. I dislike troublesome things and troublesome people. My dreams are too troublesome to get into."

"My name is Inuzuka Kiba! I like playing with the dogs at my clan compound and racing people. My hobbies include taking care of animals. I dislike cats. My dream is to one day have my own companion and become alpha of the Inuzuka clan."

Sasuke found himself frowning a bit at the end of that introduction. The Uchiha were known for the connection with cats, so it was clear that the Inuzuka and Uchiha didn't get along well when it came to discussing animals.

"My name is Yamanaka Ino! I like flowers, perfume, going shopping, and…*looks at Sasuke and giggles* other things. My hobbies include shopping and raising the flowers in the shop my parents own. I dislike things that smell bad and things that ruin my clothes."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I also like flowers, perfume, and…*looks at Sasuke and giggles even louder than Ino.* My hobbies include…*giggles again as she looks at Sasuke.* I don't particularly dislike anything.

"M-my n-n-name is Hyūga H-Hinata," came a soft voice from the side that caused Naruto to turn and see the girl next to him. "I l-l-like gardening a-and c-cinnamon r-r-rolls. My h-h-hobbies include m-making medical c-c-creams and cooking. I d-dislike anyone w-who w-would dislike s-s-someone for something t-they can't c-c-control. My d-dream is to b-b-become a strong n-ninja like my f-father, but be kind l-like my m-m-mother was." The shy girl looked like she was struggling to even finish a sentence with how heavily she was stuttering. She looked down and poked her index fingers together at realizing all of the attention she had drawn to herself as she sat down.

"My name," Naruto began as he stood up, "is Namikaze Naruto." The kids of the class immediately looked back towards him, noting the fact that he had the last name as their beloved Yondaime Hokage. They were all told about the demon, but many of them weren't informed that he was the son of the village hero. "I like people who know how to work hard to gain their strength, people who are nice to others, ramen, and my mom and dad. My hobbies include training, cooking, and playing the flute when I have free time. I dislike those who think true strength is handed to them, people who are mean or bully others, and people who disrespect my ramen! My dream is to become a better and more powerful Hokage than my father."

When Naruto sat down, he glanced over to Hinata to see her studying him with her lavender eyes, so he gave her a warm smile. However, she simply blushed and looked away leaving Naruto to wonder if she was afraid of him like the others.

'_He seems really nice,' _Hinata thought even as she couldn't make herself look at the blonde boy.

"My name is Aburame Shino. I enjoy…bugs. My hobbies include studying different species of bugs and seeing if they produce well with other types of bugs. I dislike people that would kill my bugs for no reason."

A good portion of the classroom was noticeably grossed out by the boy's introduction, but Naruto wasn't among them. He simply smiled towards the Aburame as he sat down, who merely pushed his sunglasses up as a response.

"Alright!" Iruka spoke loudly at the front of the classroom. "Now that you've all gotten your first impressions of one another, let me begin by going over the lesson plan for this year…"

* * *

Chapter 4 is a done. Hope you enjoyed. Got around to editing this since I had a friend cancel plans on me, seems like it's a heavy fan fiction kind of day

The only thing I'd really nitpick myself on here is making all of them sound so mature. I can comfort myself by saying Naruto was kinda forced to grow up quicker than the others, but some of what I had the others say seems a bit too age inappropriate for my liking. Meh, I'm rolling with it anyway.

Sorry again for lack of combat, but that'll change. I'm not going to spend a lot if any time on the actual academy years other than maybe a flashback or 2. Just more "this is what he trained in" kind of stuff so that we can jump into the action more than anything.

Sorry to those who don't like him being the descendant of Madara and Hashirama, definitely not changing that though. For those of you familiar with the rules of the Rinnegan, the answer to your inevitable question is: yes, eventually. As for when, you'll just have to find out.

See you all in the next chapter, whenever I get around to actually editing it.


	5. Graduation

**Chapter 5: Graduation**

(5 years later)

Naruto slapped his buzzing alarm on the bedside, making it turn off. His eyes cracked open, though it was reluctant at first. He had completely exhausted himself with training for the past few weeks, though it had been well worth it.

It had been a long 5 years, and the young blonde had gone through quite a lot. Naturally, he had grown substantially taller, stronger, and faster thanks to age and all of the training he put himself through. His hair had also grown substantially longer, enough to drape down to the middle of his back and give him some bangs in front of his eyes. It still maintained the gravity-defying spikes, but they weren't quite as prominent as before.

However, despite those changes, his biggest change was in his attitude. When he first attended the academy, he had expected everyone there to slow him down if nothing else, even though he understood that teamwork was important. However, thanks to Shino and Hinata, he felt as if he might be able to work even more efficiently in a team with them. His senses had developed to an incredible extent, so it was quite possible to put him on a tracking team. The others in the class had never really warmed up to him throughout the years, but he didn't really mind. He had made some friends, and that was all that really mattered.

Speaking of Hinata, however, things with her had changed quite a bit. They had spoken on friendly terms for a while, but over time she eventually developed a crush on the blonde, mostly from the attitude he displayed at the academy. Seeing him put down by a lot of people, but still strive to become Hokage without letting it affect him had made her almost…envious of the strength and confidence he possessed. However, she would never admit it because of how shy she was. He could tell she had a definite crush on him since they were both 11, which was when an event happened that he still remembered quite vividly.

* * *

**(Flashback, 2 years ago)**

Naruto was walking down the street towards the Sarutobi estate. School had finished about an hour ago, which was the time he had designated to train with Hiruzen on his Drunken Monkey style as well as some of his lighter jutsu and sealing. He had his staff and katana in case they were required for that day, but it was doubtful they would be.

However, as he was walking down the road, he saw a girl come rushing around the corner in tears and bump into a large boy that happened to be rounding the corner at the same time with 2 of his friends. He immediately recognized the girl as Hinata, and was about to say something when the boys began to harass her.

"Hey, it's one of those Hyūgas, they're so stuck-up that she probably thinks we're beneath her," said the large boy who had gotten his food spilled on him thanks to Hinata.

Hinata shook her head, but clearly the boys didn't believe her.

"Come on, let's take her to that little forest over there and make her apologize!" One of the smaller boys on the side said as he reached out towards the girl. However, the boy was surprised when his wrist was gripped and twisted harshly by someone instead and he was pushed backwards several feet as all 3 of them stepped back.

"Three guys picking on one girl huh? Wow, you guys are _real_ tough," Naruto chided as he took up a spot between the 3 boys and Hinata. While they weren't particularly close, he and Hinata chatted in a friendly fashion with one another at the academy. Although he was really only friendly with her and Shino, he valued their friendship extremely highly, and wasn't about to let anyone hurt her. He knew she was developing feelings for him by this point, as one doesn't live with the Yondaime without learning a great deal about reading people's emotions. However, he wasn't sure if he felt the same way or not.

"Yeah, well what are you going to do about it?" asked the large boy who was obviously the leader of the other 2. He puffed his chest out, trying to make himself look more intimidating as he did.

Hinata, in the meantime, dropped to her knees and started crying. Not only had she completely disappointed her father, but now she was having to be saved from random strangers by one of her friends. _'I really am a disappointment,' _the girl thought as her tears began to drip off of her face. _'Naruto-kun is going to get himself hurt because of me.'_

"Assuming you leave, nothing," Naruto said plainly. "If you insist on trying to harass her, I will make sure you all regret it."

"Hah, good try squirt," said the chubby leader said mockingly even though Naruto had a few inches over him. "Let's get him guys!"

Hinata looked up in horror as the 3 boys charged her not-so-secret crush and only real friend. Despite Naruto being friendly with both Shino and Hinata, the other 2 didn't really understand one another much. They would speak on friendly terms, sure, but they weren't really friends at the moment. The blonde boy was really the only reason they spoke to one another at all.

However, her concern was misplaced as she saw Naruto drop into a stance even she was unfamiliar with. His legs spread out slightly as he drew his right arm back with and his left arm was pushed forward, both of which were open in claw-like manner.

As the boy on his left reached him first, Naruto simply darted his left hand towards him as it took a knife-like shape and chopped the boy in the throat. This caused the boy to immediately reach both of his hands to his throat and stumble backwards onto the ground as he struggled to breathe.

The other 2 boys reached him at the same time, and each took a wild haymaker-like swing. Naruto nimbly dodged the large boys completely by weaving to the right, where he did the splits to duck under the other boy's punch. Not wasting any time, he punched the boy straight in the groin, causing him to grasp the area in pain and collapse backwards in pain.

The large boy turned around after missing his punch, seeing his last friend collapse in pain as Naruto rose. Instead of assuming his stance again, he simply started walking up towards the large boy. In desperation, the boy charged forward even as Naruto grinned slightly. He quickly feinted a punch to the right-hand side of the kid's face, making him raise his arms in defense. However, the moment he blocked his own vision, Naruto went to the boy's left side and struck his kidney twice rather brutally with his fist. The boy quickly collapsed to the side in agony afterwards.

The entire fight took around 8 seconds, though it seemed even faster than that to the blonde. He looked around, ensuring that all of the boys would be fine after a little while, before he turned his gaze back to Hinata who was looking at him in astonishment. He heard some civilians come around the corner before they ran off looking for help, but he honestly didn't care if he got in trouble for beating them up bullies.

He walked over to Hinata before offering her his hand and a warm smile. "Come on Hinata, why don't you come and talk with me about what's bothering you while we take a walk?"

Hinata could do nothing but blush at Naruto, knowing full well that he had saved her from a rather bad situation. She took his hand, using it to help lift herself up as her crying came to a stop.

'_What was that? He just completely tore them apart! He never fights like that in the academy…'_ Hinata thought to herself as she continued to stare at her crush in awe.

Although Naruto had become friends with both her and Shino, no one aside from a very select handful of people knew of his true abilities. Needless to say, as much as he wanted to tell them the truth, he had promised his father that he would not do so. The only thing they knew of him was his personality and the basic skills he showed at the academy, though Hinata now knew a small fraction of what he was truly capable of.

Instead of giving her an answer to the unasked question, he simply held the smile he had on his face towards her.

When Hinata looked into his eyes, she expected him to be looking at her as if she was weak. She had been trained for so long without any positive motivation that it was just…expected at this point, despite the fact that he usually supported her efforts while at the academy. Naruto was obviously strong, though why he chose to hide it, she wasn't certain. Strong people usually tended to mock her futile attempts at effort.

However, his eyes held a genuine concern as well as a warmth that she hadn't seen since her mother had passed away. To say that the lavender-eyed girl was surprised would be a dramatic understatement.

"A-a-ano…thank y-you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly as she wiped the remaining tear trails off of her face.

The blonde simply let his grin grow a little larger, knowing that it was something she had been doing for a while now.

"You're quite welcome, Hinata-chan," the blonde responded. He laughed inwardly as he saw her face light up in a moderate blush, having guessed it was due to the suffix he added to her name. It was actually the first time he had ever said it that way. Despite not being sure of his feelings for her, there was no question that he found Hinata rather beautiful. Plus, hearing the suffix today would hopefully help her with whatever she was upset about.

"If I may be a bit intrusive, what had you so upset earlier?" Naruto asked the girl as they began to walk. However, as soon as he asked the question, he knew from the pained expression that crossed her face that it was a sensitive topic. As he was about to stop her from feeling obligated to answer, however, she beat him to the punch.

"M…My f-f-father c-called me a f-f-failure a-and told me that I w-w-wasn't worth h-his time a-anymore," Hinata whispered solemnly. Many people may not have been able to hear her, but he did thanks to his passively enhanced hearing. "S-s-so instead of t-training m-me, I'm g-g-going to be t-trained by someone c-c-called Kurenai."

Naruto took the news in silence, though he let her know that he was listening by gazing towards her with soft eyes.

"Well, while I know training with your dad means a lot to you, but this might be for the best." Naruto watched as her eyes seemed hurt, so he quickly decided to elaborate. "I mean think about it logically. Your clan is known for teaching things only one particular way from what I understand, with absolutely no deviation. Regardless of how strong you might be, if you don't understand how they're trying to train you, then you can't get better. Kurenai might actually end up being a better teacher for you just because she explains things in a way you can understand."

Hinata's eyes met Naruto's blue ones, simply staring in curiosity at the boy she liked.

"Y-y-you don't t-think I'm w-weak?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Naruto, in response, just let out a small laugh. "Are you kidding? You're in the top 5 in our class in Taijutsu, and even then I know you'd be higher if you didn't mind hurting people. You're really smart, and you're only beat by that Sakura girl on tests and quizzes. You also easily master any of the new jutsu Iruka-sensei teaches us. You're practically ready to be a Genin, and we've still got 2 years before we graduate. You're incredibly strong, you just need to have more confidence in yourself."

Hinata simply stood, absolutely stunned at the praise she received, though she also had a heavy blush creeping over her entire face at his words. However, before the moment could go any further, they were interrupted by Kō, Hinata's personal body guard.

"Hinata-sama!" he shouted as he neared the two academy students, a leer on his face as he noticed Naruto. "Is this _demon_ bothering you, Hinata-sama?"

Naruto just let out a sigh at the harsh words, noting that Hinata seemed to still be stunned by what he said. He couldn't help the small grin from returning to his face as he saw her blushing face, knowing he had likely made her day. However, it was at that moment that he remembered something.

"Say, Hinata, yesterday was your birthday, right?" Naruto asked.

Hinata was snapped out of her stupor when she heard Naruto talking to her again, and she simply nodded her head, not trusting her voice at the moment.

The blonde then reached into one of the pouches he now had hanging along the sides of his belt, finding what he was looking for relatively quickly. He grabbed the wrapped, box-like package and tossed it into Hinata's arms. She fumbled it a few times, but quickly secured it.

"A birthday present since I didn't get to see you yesterday," he said with a smile. "I don't want to get you in trouble for hanging around with me, so I'll go. I hope your day gets better, Hinata-chan, and remember what I said. You truly are amazing," Naruto finished as he turned away and waved backwards towards her. However, remembering one last thing, he shouted at her without turning around even as he heard the wrapping paper around the box being torn open.

"Gama says he likes his new home, by the way!"

Hinata froze in the middle of opening the box, remembering all too well that around 2 months ago she had put a boxed gift in front of the Namikaze estate for the blonde, addressing it to him as "a friend." She could have sworn she was able to do so without being seen, but apparently she hadn't. Her face blushed again as she realized he must've known almost the entire time.

As she opened the small box entirely, she found a cute fox wallet inside, along with a note. Similar to her own gift a few months ago, it introduced itself as Foxy and said it hoped it would find a good home with her. Unlike hers however, Naruto had taken the time to sign his real name at the bottom of the note.

She carefully held the fox wallet, before carefully slipping it into her pants pocket with a huge smile on her face. She held onto the box and the note even as Kō lead her back towards the Hyūga estate. Regardless of how rough the day had been before now, the blonde had made it one of the better days of her life just by his brief contact with her.

'_Thank you, Naruto-kun,'_ Hinata thought as her grin spread a bit more.

Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't help but close his eyes in thought. It was true that, before today, he had never been able to express his feelings towards the Hyūga girl simply because he didn't know what they were. However, as he thought on the words he used to motivate her, he found himself agreeing with all of them.

'_Not only is she beautiful, but she's also really smart and talented as well…'_ Naruto thought as a very mild blush crossed his face. _'If only she were a bit more confident in herself…'_ the blonde thought as he finally knocked on the door of the Sarutobi estate. He would think more on it later.

'_**Looks like you might finally be interested in getting a mate, young one,'**_ Kurama said within his mind.

'_Shut up, stupid fox.'_

* * *

**(One week later, still in flashback) **

Naruto was walking out of the academy grounds after a rather trying day at the academy. Kiba had found a way to push his buttons sometimes, and he had succeeded in it today. He kept up a loudmouth type of personality in the academy, though Hinata and Shino both knew his real one was a bit quieter than het let the others know about.

As he walked out of the gate, he his left ear picked up on someone beginning to say his name before his stomach growled rather loudly. He flicked his eyes to the left and saw Hinata standing there with a bag of some sort that dropped down as if she had been running towards him and then stopped. Presumably, his stomach growling had made her lose her nerve to speak to him.

He turned towards her, and saw her face light up rather heavily in a blush as he did.

"Yes?" Naruto asked in sincere curiosity.

"A-a-a-a-ano…." Hinata began as she struggled to find the words she had just planned out moments ago. "I…I was w-wondering…" she began to say as she remembered the praise he had given her, along with his suggestion to be more confident in herself. While it was difficult for her, she tried steeling her emotions before she continued.

"I wanted t-to know if you w-would like to have lunch…with m-me," Hinata said as the ferocious blush renewed itself on her face.

"Ohhhh?" Naruto said as his eyes widened at how she had managed to stutter only slightly throughout the entire sentence, as it had gotten worse around him recently. "So Hinata-chan wants me to go on a date with her, huh?" He watched in amusement as the girl's entire body seemed to change to a drastic shade of red.

'_Oh no, I knew I shouldn't have asked him. Now he'll think it's too weird to be my friend anymore. Why did I have to be so stu-'_ Hinata thought as she was cut off by the blonde.

"I think I'd like that," Naruto said, taking her fierce blushing as an answer to his question. In response, however, she seemed to blush even further at his acceptance.

"D-d-did you just say y-yes?" Hinata asked, sincerely not believing her ears.

"Mmhmm," Naruto hummed with a smile of his own. If Hinata would've looked closely enough, she would've seen the mild blush on his own face at the situation.

"I was actually going to ask you on one myself soon, but I wanted to see if you would have enough confidence to do it yourself."

"I…I…b-b-but…" Hinata began before she promptly…passed out.

"Well," Naruto said to himself as he quickly moved and caught her before she hit the ground, "I really hope that doesn't become a bad habit."

**(Flashback over) **

Naruto found himself grinning on his bed as he thought of her now, not bothering to even try to hide the obvious happiness. They had decided to keep their relationship under wraps for the time being, and Shino was the only one their age who truly knew, though others had their suspicions.

They had decided to wait to reveal the truth until they were made Genin, and thus legal adults under shinobi law. Despite Hinata's new confidence, she was afraid her father would try to forbid her relationship with him if he found out. Naruto was equally worried about him finding out as well, so he was more than content to try to keep it a secret for her. Both of them had grown rather close, and Naruto had actually found himself deeply infatuated with her, almost enough to tell her that he loved her.

While most would scoff at the idea of 2 people in a relationship together for nearly 2 years without saying the phrase, theirs was a bit of a special circumstance. They hadn't been able to spend a great deal of time together due to trying to keep things a secret, so they had only achieved the alone time of maybe 6-7 dates. While they cherished their time together, both of them had obviously been incredibly excited about today.

Naruto, in particular, was also just excited to see her again. Minato had pulled him out of the academy for the last 2 weeks to undergo some intense training.

Speaking of intense training, however, Naruto had not been slouching during the 5 year period.

To summarize his abilities, as Minato put it, he was pretty much an elite-Jonin level shinobi already in all but experience.

His Taijutsu now rivaled Gai's to the extent that he was frequently asked to spar with the man to better teach him to counter Naruto's combined style of Drunken Monkey and Gōken. His weights, thanks to his Kyūbi enhanced muscles, were almost on par with Gai's at this point. As such, he was already just about as fast and strong as Gai was.

His Genjutsu, for lack of a better way to describe it, blew. He couldn't cast any, but nor could he be affected by it. His Sharingan could people in a sleep-like state due to it not requiring minimal amounts of chakra, but Genjutsu itself was impossible for him. His Sharingan had also not developed passed the 1 tomoe mark in each eye, though that was expected from what he was told. Apparently it would only "evolve" when in a situation that made him feel as if it was life or death.

In terms of Ninjutsu, he was completely unrivaled. He mastered a substantial amount of "deadly" techniques throughout the 5 years. Rasengan, Chidori, Raikiri, as well as many others. He had mastered a significant amount from every nature of element, trying not to prefer one over any of the others. His control was fine-tuned tremendously through the 5 years, though he would still never be able to perform Genjutsu. It was possible, however, that he might be able to do basic medical jutsu one day if he kept working on it. His affinity for every element, as stated before, was extraordinary. He even managed to master some of the jutsu within 3-4 tries, which was unheard of for B-ranks and above.

He had also taken to working heavily with Mokuton, though he was forced to do so in an underground chamber that was meant for ANBU training. Naruto was grateful for the privacy, and Minato was just glad the secret didn't have to get out. At the end of the 5 years, Naruto had managed to show both Minato, Sarutobi, and a man named Yamato a jutsu none of them thought they would ever see. However, despite his success, his Mokuton abilities and Sharingan were kept tightly under wraps and would stay that way as long as possible.

Another notable thing about Ninjutsu was the summoning contract he signed, or rather contracts. While it hadn't been done in centuries, Naruto, Minato, and Sarutobi had managed to convince Enma and Gamabunta to agree to let him be the wielder of both. While the monkey contract was usually saved for the Sarutobi family, Naruto's ability with the Drunken Monkey style had impressed the Monkey King enough to allow him to sign. Gamabunta had allowed the boy to sign simply because he was Minato's blood, and a powerful kid already. It didn't take much convincing to persuade them into agreeing.

His work with the staff, sword, and gunbai had also improved dramatically, to the point where he would be considered masters at all of them. While a truly specialized expert might be able to beat him, they would also have to match his raw speed, strength, and ability to channel affinities to do so. Speaking of weapons, however, they had changed his Bo staff for what was hopefully the final time.

While Naruto could summon Enma in Adamantine form for combat, he didn't want to rely solely on him to win his battles when he needed a staff. Instead, he had talked his parents into commissioning him a staff approximately 6 feet in height composed of the same chakra metal his sword was. When he channeled chakra into it, similar to his sword, it glowed a similar blue to his eye color. The staff was a bit larger than he was, but standing at 5'7 at 13, both Minato and Kushina figured he would grow into it. His sword had remained the exact same as before, as had his still-unseen gunbai.

In terms of academics and shinobi knowledge, he could rival experts in their general knowledge of the subject. Having upped the amount of shadow clones he had studying to 150 a day, the amount of knowledge he accumulated was absolutely enormous. He was a skilled mathematician, knew all sorts of political strategies and discussions, body and muscle reading, medical knowledge, history, and much, much more.

Separate from his academics, however, his skill in sealing was something different entirely. He had set aside another 100 clones a day to focus solely on the art, and had already become a level 9 seal master, on the same level as his father. He had already been working on 2 of his first major, original creations, but they still needed a bit longer to complete. After he finished one that was acknowledged to be a boon to the village at large, he would earn the promotion to level 10 seal master.

Stopping himself from reminiscing about his improvement any longer, Naruto quickly hopped out of bed and jumped into the shower before running back into his room as the sun began to rise. He quickly tossed on his usual clothes, which hadn't changed much in 5 years. He had gone up a size or 2, simply due to his excessive height at his age. However, one large addition was the mesh shirt and leggings he wore underneath his black shirt and pants now.

Aside from that, they only significant change was that his boots were now steel-toed and were lined on the sides with small, individual metal plates to increase the protection they provided. The boots, leggings, shirt, and gloves all remained the same black coloration as before. He also had lined his belt with 2 pouches, one at either hip and 1 kunai pouch wrapped around his right leg with white bandages.

After he had tossed on the fresh clothing, he quickly attached the sheath of his sword on his lower back, to where he would have to withdraw it horizontally. He also tossed on his staff sheath before draping it over his back. The staff itself would almost hit the ground on the left side and protrude slightly above his head on the right side. Thankfully, this setup allowed him to have access to all of his pouches, his sword, and his staff without problems. He had begun to work on a way to store his staff away to summon at will just like his gunbai, but he had yet to think of a way to do it.

After getting everything situated and giving himself a glance in the full-body mirror he had in his room, he nodded to himself as he stepped outside and walked to the gate of the Namikaze estate. As he reached it however, he heard a distinctly male voice clear their throat behind him.

"Looking spiffy there, son," Minato said with a grin as his son turned around. Minato was clad in his casual gear, knowing that he wouldn't need the Kage gear for a while yet. As the Hokage took a sniff of the air, however, he couldn't help but smirk even further.

"You're wearing cologne," he said mostly to himself as he watched his son's face blush mildly. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"Ah," Naruto began, "well…at least I managed to hide it until today. I've been "seeing her" for around 2 years now."

Minato's eyes widened substantially at hearing that, sincerely not having had any indication before now. "Really now, well come on, do tell!"

Naruto sighed, but knew he likely wouldn't get out of it now. "The teams aren't affected by my answer, are they?"

Minato, at hearing the question, simply shook his head. "No, we only take it into consideration if it's going to be a problem to team dynamics. Seeing as you managed to hide this from my and your mother's eyes and ears for 2 years, I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Hahaha…yeah…" Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

Minato, however, simply sighed as his head dropped. "When did she figure it out?"

"About a year and a half ago," Naruto admitted. "You seriously can't hide anything from her."

"You sure can't!" Kushina yelled from the entrance of the house as she came rushing out in her casual clothes. "I take it your dad finally caught on?"

"Yeah, I put on cologne and he smelled it," the blonde boy answered.

"Ah, well it is good you hid it until today at least," Kushina responded with a smile.

"Alright, so spill, who is it?" Minato asked.

"Hinata," Naruto and Kushina said simultaneously.

"I'll be a son of a bitch," Minato said with a huge grin. "Does Hiashi know?"

"No," answered his son. "We were going to tell him today since she becomes a legal adult and under your command. I didn't want to risk the Hyūga elders doing anything too drastic if they found out she's in a relationship with me."

The man renowned as the Yellow Flash simply frowned upon the realization that his son had to take such precautions because of the burden he had forced upon him. However, he brightened up at the fact that his son was so powerful and intelligent at such a young age.

"Well, I'll make sure nothing happens to her," Minato said with a smile. "However, I doubt Hiashi would let them do anything because of it anyway."

"Better safe than sorry," Naruto responded simply.

"True," Minato admitted.

"Regardless," Kushina began, "don't you want breakfast before you go Naru-chan?"

"Actually…." Naruto began as he trailed off, his face glowing red.

"Ahhh, I see how it is," Kushina said with a grin. "We shouldn't keep you then."

"Thanks mom," Naruto said with a smile as he went and gave her a hug. "Thank you too dad, for keeping a watch over Hinata," the young blonde said before he gave his father a more manly-type of hug.

"No problem," Minato responded. "We'll both be there when you graduate, so just come and find us," he finished with a smile.

"I will!" Naruto shouted as he ran out the gate. They had abandoned having a guard for the boy since last year, as people quickly learned not to try anything fishy. If civilians or shinobi tried to cause him harm, he would just flare his Ki that he had worked on with Kurama and his father. Suffice it to say, thanks to Kurama's chakra, it caused most people to simply pass out when focused on them. It was a rather sufficient safeguard from attacks that didn't force him to show his true power either.

Naruto quickly ran across the street and a little to the right, as the Namikaze estate and Hyūga estate were located almost right next to each other. Once he stepped onto the street to view the main entrance to the Hyūga grounds, however, his heart hopped into his throat. Despite the incredibly early hour, Hinata was standing there as expected, but she was not alone.

"You can go ahead and come out, I already know you're there," came the voice of Hyūga Hiashi.

Naruto swore silently, but continued forward at a leisurely pace. The usual 2 guards at the front weren't there, seemingly having dismissed while Hiashi was there with his daughter.

Naruto took in the sight of Hinata for the first time in 2 weeks, and she looked even more beautiful than he remembered. She had grown her hair out slightly, as Naruto had mentioned off-hand one day that he preferred girls with long hair. Aside from that, her appearance hadn't changed much. She stood at around 5 feet even, giving Naruto 8 inches on her already. She was clad in a pink coat with white fur at the bottom along with black pants that had the right thigh wrapped in bandages so that a pouch for kunai could be attached to it. She finished her outfit with standard-issue blue sandals.

However, despite how beautiful he thought she was, the boy's attention was completely on Hiashi who was looking at him emotionlessly. As he neared the two of them, his stomach grew a bit queasy, but he steeled his resolve.

"Namikaze Naruto…" Hiashi stated with a neutral expression, trying to give nothing away just yet. He paused, somewhat enjoying the agony he was likely causing the boy before a ghost of a smile touched his lips for a fleeting moment.

"I suppose I should begin by thanking you," Hiashi stated, causing Naruto's face to contort in obvious confusion.

"I told him everything, Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke from her father's side. Throughout the last 2 years they had been speaking, her confidence had skyrocketed. No longer did she stutter in front of others, nor did she pass out from close contact with him, though she did still blush. Due to that confidence, Hiashi had retaken to her training after seeing her attitude. With her new confidence, and Naruto's continued support, she had actually made rather drastic improvements in her clan's fighting style.

"Ah," Naruto responded, still looking into Hiashi's eyes. It was political etiquette to show no fear in these types of situations, though you were to still show respect.

"I…owe you a great deal, Naruto," Hiashi spoke in a soft tone. "The support you've given my daughter has allowed her to become confident in herself in a way that I did not think possible at one point in time. You also seem to be an emotional rock for her that I failed to be."

Hiashi then looked to his daughter. She had told him everything this morning, and he was genuinely surprised when he heard it. He knew the boy had inspired confidence in her, but she had actually come and asked him for his support in allowing her to court him. The clan head had final say in the matter, though it was usually put up for a vote through the clan elders. After seeing everything that he had seen, however, he wasn't about to allow this chance to slip away for her.

He looked back down into the blonde boy's eyes, though his head didn't dip down too far. In the blonde's eyes, he saw a fierce determination, as well as genuine concern. He saw strength, but he also saw a soft spot in them, presumably for his daughter. Hiashi didn't bother to contain the small smile that touched his lips as he read the boy.

"I will support you," Hiashi said plainly. Out of the reactions he was expecting from the two of them, he didn't expect to suddenly feel a force slam into his side and wrap around him. As he looked over, he saw that Hinata had gripped him in a fierce hug, with an extremely relieved look on her face.

"Thank you, dad," Hinata said softly so that only he should've been able to hear. Naruto managed to hear it as well, but only thanks to his enhancements.

"You are welcome, flower," Hiashi whispered back. Hinata's eyes widened as she had not been called that since her mother passed away, but smiled widely as she hugged him a bit more strongly. She pulled away after a long moment and trotted over to a relieved looking Naruto. Hiashi watched with protective eyes as they held each other's hands.

"However," Hiashi began as the teen couple looked towards him, "I do expect you to abide by _some_ rules that I set down. Mostly a curfew for her to be back, you check in with me if it's okay to take her out on a particular night. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, Hiashi-san. I would do whatever it takes for an opportunity to date Hinata, I will follow your rules."

"Very good," Hiashi said with a small smile. "I'll handle the elders, you don't worry about it Hinata. If anyone from the clan dares to raise their voice to you or tries to threaten you about this matter, let me know immediately."

"I have already discussed the possibility of that happening with Naruto, father," Hinata said much to the man's surprise. "We are aware that I may get some…backlash from the announcement, but it would just be from ignorant people."

Hiashi nodded in an understanding manner, agreeing completely. He held no ill will towards Naruto, even though he would like a chance to kill the Kyūbi for what it did. However, he wouldn't harm a young boy to do it, and he felt that everyone else should feel a similar way. He knew Hinata's relationship with Naruto would not be without issues, but hopefully she will find happiness with the boy.

"Very well then, I shall not keep you two any longer. Hinata, I will be there personally after you graduate. Would you like to do anything special afterwards?"

In response to the question, he watched amused as she simply looked over to her blonde boyfriend before looking back to him and shaking her head.

"Alright then, I will see you when you graduate and then you will be free for the rest of the evening. Just be home by 8:30," Hiashi stated with another slight smile. The expression felt odd on his face, but he had missed the feeling.

"I will have her back by 8:30," Naruto responded, knowing full well what the implications behind Hiashi's words were. The man, in turn, nodded his head towards the blonde.

"Take care you two," Hiashi said as he returned inside the gate, leaving the two alone. After a moment of silence, Hinata moved in front of the blonde and the two just stared at each other. A second later, Hinata rose up on her toes as she leaned into the blonde and planted a soft kiss on his lips. It wasn't the first time they had kissed, but both of them still blushed mildly afterwards as it _was_ the first time in a public area.

Naruto simply sighed as he brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. "It feels good not to have to hide that from people anymore," Naruto admitted. "We should get to the academy though, I wasn't expecting that to happen until later. Do you have breakfast?"

"I'm happy I'll be able to finally shut Kiba up now by telling him I have a boyfriend," Hinata admitted with a smile. "And yes, Naruto-kun, I have breakfast. Thank you again for the seals," the raven-haired girl said as she indicated the simple bracers around her wrists. Naruto wore a similar pair, and they allowed them to store things in a small, dimensional space of their own creation.

"You're welcome Hinata-chan," Naruto said with a smile. "You're the one who picked up on it so quickly. It only took you a week to learn it, it took me around a month for me with shadow clone time. I just made the bracers for you, you did all the rest. Don't sell yourself short."

Hinata, in response, just smiled and squeezed the boy's hand. The gloves he wore made it a bit trickier, as she had to be careful not to run her bare hand over the plating he had on the back and knuckles of his hands. However, despite that, Hinata just made sure to keep her hand on the underside of his.

The two of them quickly made their way to the academy, drawing a good number of stares as they traveled along. As usual, people still gave wide berth to Naruto and whispered things about him, but they also whispered about Hinata as well. Despite this, the lavender-eyed girl couldn't be happier, and she simply ignored what they were saying. As they arrived at the gate of the academy, they quickly stepped inside and took a seat at one of the picnic tables they had at the front where students ate lunch.

They took a seat across from one another as Hinata unsealed a black bento box from her bracers. One of the benefits about the dimension, it turned out, was that it retained the temperature of what was stored. Since Hinata had sealed the box immediately after prepping the food, everything would taste like it was fresh off of the stove.

She opened the box, revealing a good portion of food. Inside were 4 scrambled eggs, several sausage links, 2 pieces of toast, and a small amount of rice along with 2 sets of chopsticks. Naruto, meanwhile, unsealed 2 glasses of milk and 2 bottles of water from his own bracers.

The two immediately began to eat, feeling rather famished. After Naruto had praised Hinata's cooking skills again for several minutes, to her mild embarrassment, they sealed everything away inside of their bracers again. Afterwards, since Iruka had already arrived and unlocked the door, they walked into the academy and into their classroom. The students wouldn't be due to arrive for another 20 minutes or so, but they wanted to get situated before everyone arrived. They both walked in, hand-in-hand, and saw Iruka scribbling down some notes at his desk.

"Hinata-chan, go ahead to our usual seat, I'll be with you in a second. I want to talk to Iruka-sensei for a moment alone while I have the chance."

"Okay Naruto-kun, don't take too long though," Hinata said with a smile as she walked up to the desk at the top left of the elevated ramp.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto began as he walked up to the man and got his attention. "I just wanted to say thank you in advance. My dad…told me about what happened to your parents."

As the blonde mentioned his parents, he saw the scarred man noticeably flinch, but retain a mostly calm demeanor.

"I know that it was probably rough for you to try to instruct me because of that, but you're the only instructor here who didn't purposely give me false information, so thank you." Naruto finished speaking with a bow towards the man.

"False information?" Iruka asked, leveling his full attention on the blonde.

"Yeah," Naruto admitted. "Mizuki-sensei, for example, told me the completely wrong seal sequence for **Bunshin no Jutsu.**" (Clone Technique) The other instructors usually passed along similar information, like the psychology guy you brought in telling me that I should have no trouble whatsoever killing people and would likely enjoy it."

Iruka simply stared in shock at the boy in front of him, almost not wanting to believe what he was saying.

"However, like I said, you were always honest with me and seemed to want to genuinely help me get better. As a result, my dad wanted me to show you the jutsu I was working on for the past 2 weeks before anyone else sees it."

"Oh?" Iruka asked, genuinely curious as to what he could've learned in 2 weeks. "Okay Naruto," he stated as he set his pen down. "Let's see it."

Naruto simply smiled at the man as he unzipped his pouch, pulling out an iconic tri-pronged kunai. Naruto watched as Iruka's eyes shot open like rockets, not even bothering to try to hide the shock in his face. Just as Iruka was going to call him on the bluff, Naruto tossed the kunai to the top of the elevated ram and into the wall creating a small hole.

"Thanks again, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said with a smile as he disappeared in a yellow flash. Iruka looked towards the back of the room, and saw the young boy pulling the kunai from the wall. As a result, he simply slumped back into his chair, not having the mental prowess to write down any more notes at that moment.

Hinata, for her part, was almost as shocked as Iruka. Everyone within the leaf would recognize that particular jutsu, and she was no exception. She stared at her now-official boyfriend in a bit of awe. Though they had gotten close, he still hadn't revealed most of what he could do to her. She had an inkling that he was extremely skilled at Taijutsu and decent at sealing, but had no idea what level he was on.

Hinata waited until Naruto sat down. After he did, she scoot her seat as close to him as possible and rested her head on his shoulder. "Was that Hiraishin?" she whispered softly.

"Mmhmm," Naruto answered just as softly. "Don't tell anyone though, it's a secret for now," Naruto said teasingly.

"I won't," she whispered back with a smile.

20 minutes later, the first students finally started arriving. Many of the first ones inside were some of the civilian students, likely because they were too eager to wait any longer. Soon afterwards though, the only other person Hinata and Naruto were friendly with walked into the room. He glanced among the room, and made his way up as soon as he spotted the 2 of them. He quickly took the seat next to Naruto, since he was in the middle.

"I take it you two are finally an official couple now?" Shino asked, seemingly not surprised in the least.

"I told you he knew somehow," Naruto said to Hinata with a smile that she emulated. "We are, but if I can ask, how'd you catch us?"

"A fair question," Shino responded. "My kikaichū could sense the pheromones you two released around one another. Hence, it was logical that you two were attracted to one another. Add to that how you both like to blush a bit when the other praises you, along with the small contact you made with one another, and I deduced that you were likely keeping the relationship a secret for some reason."

Hinata actually took her head off of her boyfriend's shoulder and looked towards the Aburame boy, rather shocked by the answer. Naruto, however, simply smiled as he looked towards him.

"As expected from the prodigy of the clan that runs on logic," Naruto stated with a smile. "Still, I can see why you will make an amazing intelligence gathering shinobi with those kikaichū of yours and your great powers of deduction. I swear, sometimes I'd pay to see a Nara and an Aburame play Shogi."

Shino, in response, merely pushed his glasses up a bit. "We already do that," Shino admitted. "Every first Friday of the month, we have a tournament that alternates between clan estates. To this date, the Aburame have never won the tournament."

"Huh…I didn't know that," Naruto said as he felt Hinata's head reacquaint itself with his shoulder. "Are non-clan members allowed to participate?"

Shino nodded his head. "Most elect to forsake the event though, as they are usually eliminated immediately."

"I may have to join in sometime then," Naruto said with a smile.

"If you wish, Naruto," Shino said plainly. However, as Naruto looked on, he could see a ghost of a smile touch the boy's lips.

The blonde contemplated arguing, but decided against it. Instead, he contented himself by leaning the side of his head against the top of Hinata's and wrapping his arm around her waist to hold her close.

The rest of the class arrived over time along with Mizuki, though many didn't even acknowledge that Hinata and Naruto were openly displaying affection.

One person, however, noticed as soon as he walked in.

"Oi! Namikaze! What the hell do you think you're doing with my woman?" Kiba shouted as he entered the classroom with a young puppy on his head under his hood. It was immediately afterwards that most everyone in the classroom turned and saw the two of them resting against one another, making most everyone else in the classroom jealous as there was no other official relationship between anyone else.

"I'm letting _my_ girlfriend rest on my shoulder, Kiba. Seriously, I've had enough with you coming onto her even though she rejects you. Back off, or you'll regret it."

Hinata, meanwhile, simply gripped Naruto's hand under the table where Kiba couldn't see. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, and remained perfectly calm throughout his threat.

"Yeah right, what could the class statistic do? You are seriously average at absolutely everything we learn here. Hinata will be mine," Kiba claimed as he looked towards her before taking a seat.

Naruto felt Hinata about to say something to the boy, but didn't want that to happen just yet.

"Wait until he does it again, Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered. "You know how you're always asking about what style I used against those kids two years ago?"

"Yeah, that really strange one. I couldn't recognize it at the time, but it seems familiar now that I think about it…" Hinata responded.

"You'll get to see it again today," Naruto responded. "I know you don't like seeing people hurt, but I'm going to make sure he doesn't do this again."

Hinata sighed, but nodded her head against his shoulder. Honestly, Kiba was getting a bit overzealous lately. She was fine just turning down his flirting at first, as it seemed harmless enough. However, soon after, it turned into full-blown requests for dates or even a few times he tried to grope her by "accident." It was all she could do after those situations to not hit him herself and restrain Naruto while doing so. It was time he learned that no meant no.

"Alright class!" Iruka shouted as he looked worryingly towards the young Inuzuka. "You all know what to expect. Mizuki here will now pass out the written tests. If you pass this, then we'll move onto the academy basics. If you manage to finish those, then you'll graduate and receive your headband. However, we will then test your other skills to see where you are in development so we can best fit complementary skills together.

Mizuki then passed out the tests quickly, ensuring everyone received one.

"Alright, you have an hour, begin!" Iruka shouted as everyone flipped their papers over. Astonishingly, 5 minutes later, the sound of a paper being flipped was heard. Iruka and Mizuki both looked up to see Naruto had already finished. Mizuki merely smirked, thinking he had given up, while Iruka looked up in a questioning manner.

'_Just how much have you been holding back, Naruto?'_

* * *

About an hour later, Iruka called pencils down. Mizuki and here blew through the tests, finishing them in less than 30 minutes. It just so happened that Iruka had gotten Naruto's test, and was astonished to see that there was not a single error. Even he, who was admittedly pretty good at written tests, wouldn't have detailed his answers this well within 5 minutes.

As Iruka called out who had failed a few moments later, he realized about half of the civilian portion of the class was now gone. It was a rather high failure rate for the written portion, though he expected more to drop off during the academy basic portion.

As they went through the names of students for the basic techniques, every single civilian that was left failed. 8 of the 9 ninja passed, and Naruto was the final one to go.

"Alright Naruto, start us off with a Bunshin," Iruka stated.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"** Naruto stated as he brought 10 shadow clones into existence. Iruka and some of the more intelligent ninja in the class went wide-eyed at hearing the technique and seeing the result.

"Naruto, I said a Bunshin," Iruka stated.

"Exactly, you said a Bunshin, not **Bunshin no Jutsu**. Kage Bunshin is technically a Bunshin. Seeing as it's more complicated and requires infinitely more chakra, I feel as if I should get extra credit," Naruto stated logically.

Many of the class simply went wide-eyed at him explaining something so intelligently, though they didn't comment on it. Hinata, however, felt her smile grow even larger than it already was as she watched him.

"Well argued," Iruka stated as he marked off the Bunshin as being done to perfection. "Perform **Kawarimi no Jutsu**," Iruka stated the next basic technique that was required.

Naruto, in response, immediately replaced himself with Kiba.

"Oi!" Kiba shouted as he turned towards the blonde.

"Relax, it's not like there was an incoming fireball or something," Naruto stated as he took the center of attention once again and Kiba retreated back into the line of students.

"Very good," Iruka stated as he marked it off the list. "Perform **Henge no Jutsu**." (Transformation Technique)

Thinking for a moment, Naruto made the required hand seals and hid in a large plume of smoke. As it cleared, however, the students and instructors stood in awe at the form before them. Instead of something silly like turning into Kiba with a deformity or some sort of scantily clad woman as was expected, he transformed into a full-scale version of Uchiha Madara in his glory. He was clad in red armor, and even had the gunbai he was notoriously known for wielding. The instructors, in particular, swallowed hard and had to remind themselves that it was just a Henge. Naruto had mastered every last detail, down to the notorious passive glow of Madara's Sharingan that was blazing in his eyes.

"V-v-very good, Naruto," Iruka commented. "You can drop it now."

With another cloud of smoke, he reverted back into his previous form. Iruka thought he saw the glowing red eyes of Madara's form on Naruto's person for a moment before the smoke completely cleared, but he just told himself he must've been seeing things.

"Alright, good. You pass." Iruka said with a smile. "Everyone that's still here, come and get one of….these," Iruka said as he brought out a box of newly crafted Konoha forehead protectors.

As everyone received the new piece of gear, they then began the process of deciding where to put it. Most people to wear it around their forehead, though there were some exceptions. Hinata, for example, decided to wear hers loosely around her neck. Shikamaru elected to tie his around his arm. Naruto, meanwhile, elected to wear his around his left bicep in a manner similar to Shikamaru.

"Now that everyone has their forehead protectors on, let's go ahead and walk outside. We'll have our Taijutsu test out there," Iruka stated as everyone stood up and walked outside with him.

However, as many people already expected, the area outside of the academy was now filled with spectators, mostly parents. Multiple clan heads along with clan elders were in the area, and whispers flew around the students when they saw the Hokage himself. Of course, a good deal of the parents immediately hollered for their children to do well, though many also remained silent on the sidelines.

"Alright, a lot of people have made time in their schedules to see this, so let's not keep them waiting any longer," Iruka stated. "Just to re-explain from everything I told you yesterday, it will be a series of 1 on 1 Taijutsu fights. We'll start from the bottom of the class standings and work our way up, letting you challenge anyone else in the class that you want. The last one left will fight with me so we can get a good idea of their skills. I recommend you choose one around your level, just to make sure we get a full demonstration of your Taijutsu."

"So, Choji!" Iruka stated in a happy tone, trying not to make the kid feel bad. "Who would you like to spar against?"

"Well…" Choji stated hesitantly before he looked over at Shikamaru who gave him a firm nod. "I'll fight Shika."

"Are you two just going to surrender?" Iruka asked sincerely, receiving a nod from the two boys. Shikamaru knew that Choji didn't like to fight his friends, and he thought it was too troublesome to do anyway.

After taking a deep breath and sighing, he simply marked them down as what he knew they were. Choji was high in power, though rather slow. Shikamaru, on the other hand, had pitiful Taijutsu skills even when he put forth effort. Being part of the Akimichi and Nara clans respectively, the result was not unexpected.

"Alright, Ino, who do you want to spar?" Iruka asked, already having a hunch as to what the answer was.

"Sakura!" Ino proclaimed loudly as the two made their way to the field.

"Begin," Iruka said in a friendly but bored tone. As he expected, both girls were pitiful at Taijutsu, though they had at least mastered the basic academy forms. It was a good stepping stone, but they had no form past it nor did they have any muscle or speed behind their attacks and movements. The match ended relatively quickly when they threw haymakers and knocked each other out of the ring.

"Alright!" Iruka shouted after he made sure both girls were okay. "Namikaze Naruto! Who do you want to sp-"

"Kiba," Naruto replied immediately, sending a surprised murmur through the crowd. Everyone knew Inuzuka could be rather fierce in combat, so they were somewhat excited to see this fight. However, despite the circumstances, Naruto could easily hear people calling him a demon and many other names. He walked into the ring, as did Kiba and his dog since it was technically part of his fighting style.

"One chance, Kiba. Promise to leave Hinata alone and you won't regret it when you regain consciousness," Naruto said with a bit of venom in his voice. He had sincerely looked forward to kicking the boy's ass.

"Hah, not on your life! Like I said, the Hyūga girl is mine!" Kiba shouted. Little did he realize, that aside from Naruto, he had now dug his own grave with multiple people throughout the crowd.

"So be it," Naruto stated as he assumed the Drunken Monkey fighting stance, causing a plethora of loud murmuring throughout the crowd at seeing the Sandaime's fighting style being used.

"Begin," Iruka stated.

As expected, Kiba made the first move. He immediately charged in, Akamaru following close beside him, as he made a wild slash at Naruto as if he had nails. Naruto, seeing the opportunity, simply bent backwards to avoid the blow and quickly raised himself back up using his abs just in time to see Akamaru leaping at him.

While Naruto didn't want to be cruel to the animal, he wanted to drive his point home. He simply reached around, grabbing the dog around the neck, as he turned around to a growling Kiba. He tossed the dog out of the ring, effectively ensuring that it couldn't come back in to help his master thanks to the sparring rules.

"Akamaru is out, just you and me now," Naruto stated with a neutral voice.

"Whatever, I'll just kick your ass by myself! That'll show Hinata how weak you are!" Kiba shouted as he charged the boy once more. Naruto, meanwhile, simply assumed his Drunken Monkey stance again. Kiba charged in, feinting with another slash as he spun around and tried a low kick.

Naruto easily read the feint and stepped forward as Kiba swung his leg around. Doing a small hop, he easily dodged the leg sweep as Kiba stood up entirely, trying to hop backwards away from the blonde.

However, Naruto wasn't about to give him the chance. Friendly spar or not, Kiba had rightfully pissed him off. Instead of relying on the crippling blows of Drunken Monkey, however, he decided to go with his Gōken blows so that he wouldn't be declared as a dishonorable sparring partner. Catching up to Kiba easily, he merely drove a drove a fist into the boy's stomach, causing him to double over in pain and drop to his knees.

"You going to stop chasing her now?" Naruto asked as he towered over the boy. Kiba, however, had notorious Inuzuka stubbornness. He shakily rose from the ground and got on his feet, taking a few deep breaths that Naruto allowed him to have.

"No!" Kiba spat out simply as he ran forward again, though a bit shakier than before.

Naruto simply sighed, waiting until the last moment before backhanding Kiba on the cheek and knocking him to the side. While still in the ring, his face hit the dirt before he pushed himself up again.

* * *

The crowd, and even the students, were watching what was happening in a bit of shock. Inuzuka were renowned for their Taijutsu, and yet the possible heir of the clan was getting his ass handed to him as if it were a Jonin fighting a Genin. The Inuzuka, however, were rather furious. Not only was Kiba making them look like fools in a Taijutsu fight by not knowing when to give up, but it was clear that he was chasing after a girl who had no interest in him judging by the silence permeating the students around the sparring ring.

"That boy is going to get it when he gets home," Tsume growled venomously.

Minato and Kushina, meanwhile, were simply smiling at what they were seeing. They had told him he could show off a bit, and it was clear that he wasn't really overdoing it. He might've been able to reign it in a bit better, but he could've also completely mopped the floor with the boy as well. At least this way, Kiba wasn't knocked out immediately.

* * *

As Kiba rose to his feet once more, he looked at the blonde through half-lidded eyes. '_His hits feel like I'm getting hit by a train instead of a fist,'_ the young Inuzuka thought.

"One more chance. Leave her alone for good, or you're suffering some sort of injury. I'm done playing with you," Naruto said in a cold manner.

Iruka considered calling the match then and there, but it was clear that Kiba still wanted to continue, so he would allow it. Honestly, he also hoped this would help change his attitude towards Hinata and women in general.

"Hah, as if a loser like you isn't going all out against me," Kiba said as he spat. "Don't make yourself look so cool. I won't give up! She will be mine once I kick your ass!"

However, he didn't expect to see the blonde suddenly disappear and then reappear in front of his face. Before he could even take in what happened, he heard Naruto call out his technique.

"**Konoha Senpū!"** (Konoha Whirlwind) Naruto said in a neutral voice, which was eerily creepy, as he slammed the heel of his boot into the side of Kiba's head, sending him flying a good 15 feet out of the ring across the dirt.

The crowd, and the students for that matter, simply watched in stunned silence as Naruto calmly walked out of the ring and towards Hinata.

"Sorry! Might've overdone it a bit!" Naruto said loudly enough for everyone to hear as he walked towards his girlfriend who was staring at him with wide eyes while Iruka and Mizuki rushed over to check on Kiba.

"I think you might've overdone it by more than a bit, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered.

"Well, it'll teach him his lesson. He's had that coming for a long time now," he responded. "Besides," Naruto said as he grabbed her hand, "hopefully it will teach him that no means no."

At that, Hinata couldn't help but nod. Kiba did definitely deserve an ass kicking, she just hoped that he wasn't hurt too badly. However, she couldn't help a small blush from coming to her face at how protective Naruto was of her. She raised herself up to her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing the whispers from the crowd to return.

* * *

Many of the Hyūga members in the crowd starting whispering angrily, but Hiashi just let the sides of his lips curve up in a small smile once again. _'So it would seem you can protect her as well. I believe I made a good choice in trusting your son, Minato.'_

Tsume would've jumped in to check on her son, but it was quite possible she would've done even more to harm him with how she was feeling at the moment. He had completely disgraced the Inuzuka with that little show of his, and his comments about a girl being "his," hadn't helped her mood get any better. Instead, she contented herself with simply growling lowly as Kiba was carefully checked over by a medic nin that happened to be on standby.

Minato and Kushina just smiled at the display, happy that their son would protect Hinata so forcefully when needed. It was a shame he had to go so far, but Minato had to admit that he would've been even a bit more brutal if someone had been like that to Kushina back in the academy.

* * *

One Sasuke Uchiha who was among the students, however, was just staring at the blonde with wide eyes. He had never gone out of his way to know the boy, simply because he seemed so average. Sasuke was the best at everything in the academy save for written tests, and that was only because written knowledge was useless on the field in his opinion.

In Taijutsu, however, Kiba had been the only one to truthfully challenge him. Yet, despite that, Naruto had completely made a fool out of him. It was true that Sasuke did the same when he got serious, but this was on a different level. He kept this in mind as he walked over to the boy even as Iruka called out the next match.

"Shino, who would you like to fight?" Iruka asked as the medics got Kiba up and about again.

"…I'd like to request to fight the instructor," Shino responded. "Hinata and Sasuke both devastate me in Taijutsu, and it wouldn't give me a fair chance to represent myself."

Iruka simply nodded, having expected this. "That's fine, Mizuki, hold onto my clipboard please. Alright Shino, let's see what you can do."

As the Aburame boy began showing his mastery of academy-style Taijutsu, Sasuke finally made himself known to Naruto who was letting Hinata rest her head against his right shoulder again.

"Where did you learn that style?" Sasuke asked plainly. After seeing it first-hand, he wanted to know where he had obtained such power. It wasn't that he planned to use it for himself, as he wanted to continue on with his clan's fighting style. However, if he knew where the blonde had learned it, he might be able to learn something equally powerful in Ninjutsu or other techniques.

"There's only one man in the village that uses my same style, ask any of the villagers and you'll find out who taught me it," Naruto responded. While he and Sasuke hadn't actually interacted much in the past, the boy's attitude had given Naruto enough distaste for him to know they wouldn't get along very well. Sasuke was entirely too arrogant and bent on being better than his brother Itachi in every possible way.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he turned away. "Probably wouldn't have done me much good anyway."

As Sasuke walked away, Naruto wrapped his right arm around Hinata's shoulders as he rested the side of his head against the top of hers. "Give him an ass-kicking for me, will you Hinata-chan?"

Hinata, in return, just smiled a little. She and Sasuke had not been matched up against one another in years, simply due to gender. Potential kunoichi were usually regarded as a separate group apart from potential shinobi in the academy until this exam, giving her a rather distinct edge.

"I'll do my best, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered back to him.

It was a few minutes of silence after that when Iruka called an end to the spar, marking Shino as average on Taijutsu. He certainly wasn't the best, but it was at a pretty solid level for a member of the Aburame clan.

"Alright, that leaves Hinata and Sasuke!" Iruka called out with a bit of a smile.

Naruto removed her head off of hers and gave her hand a soft squeeze again before he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Good luck, Hinata-chan," he said with a grin.

Hinata just grinned up at him as a mild blush grew across the bridge of her nose from doing that act in public. They both knew all too well that she didn't need luck.

The Taijutsu sparring for the academy was always split up into 2 groups, males and females. It was stupid, unfounded, and honestly quite sexist. However, that's how it had always been. As such, the only sparring partners Hinata ever had there were Sakura, Ino, or other random civilian girls who were in the class. Due to this, she had _never_ shown her true potential in Taijutsu to the class.

At least not until today.

As she and Sasuke walked into the sparring ring and the crowd somewhat erupted from seeing the heirs of the 2 most prominent dojutsu clans about to face off.

* * *

Fugaku Uchiha, head of the Uchiha clan and Sasuke's father, was amongst the crowd. He grinned, having full confidence in his son's abilities. Ever since Itachi had started to grow distant, he had put his effort into training his son. True, he had mostly focused in helping him with Ninjutsu, kunai/shuriken accuracy, and the basics of being a shinobi, but Sasuke's Taijutsu level was one of the best he had seen amongst Uchiha his age. Truthfully, only geniuses like Itachi's or Shisui's had been better.

Hiashi Hyuga, who was still amongst the crowd, simply let a ghost of a smile cross his lips again. It would've been a full blown grin, but they _were_ in public after all. Unlike the others, he had actually seen what Hinata could do. There was no question as to who would win this fight.

* * *

"Alright," Iruka stated as the two stood across from one another. "Tenketsu strikes are allowed, as it's part of the Hyuga fighting style. If either of you have your dōjutsu, those are also allowed. No chakra involvement otherwise. Understand?"

"Hai," came the mutual response.

"Begin!" Iruka shouted as he somewhat stumbled back, not having expected the fierce burst of speed that Hinata shot off with immediately afterwards.

Judging by the result, Sasuke wasn't prepared either. Before he even recognized that he should move, Hinata's hand was already striking forward with her Byakugan wordlessly activated. She used both hands, clearly having trained to become ambidextrous to an extent, and struck 4 tenketsu points on both of his arms which made them hang limply at his sides. Not thinking about it, Sasuke immediately jumped back to try to get away from the ferocity of the blows.

"Winner, Hinata!" Iruka called as Sasuke left the sparring ring.

The Uchiha immediately looked down and swore upon seeing that he had completely thrown himself out of the ring by going backwards so far. He looked to where he knew his father was standing amongst the crowd and could barely contain the sadness he felt when he saw him turn around without a word and walk away.

Hinata, meanwhile, smiled beamingly and walked back over to the blonde who was waiting for her.

"And you say I overdid it," Naruto said teasingly as she came closer.

"I thought he would be a bit better than that," Hinata said somewhat sheepishly, though she was telling the truth on the matter.

"I dunno," Naruto said in an amused manner. "I thought the overkill was a nice touch."

"Be quiet," Hinata said with a playful pout as she gave him a small shove.

"Alright class!" Iruka called as he finished making some marks on his clipboard. "That's all we needed for today. Congratulations to each of you for graduating." He smiled, letting most of the students let out a small cheer save for Sasuke and Kiba.

"Come back here at 10 in 3 days and we'll get you split into your teams and introduce you to your Jonin instructors. With that, for the final time…class dismissed." Iruka watched them all shout somewhat excitedly before walking off, though he kept his eyes particularly on the pair that had completely dominated the sparring today.

'_The next generation is going to be really amazing…'_ he thought as a smile grew on his face again.

* * *

And done. Holy fuck, long chapter for me.

Just throwing this out there right away, no the Uchiha Massacre hasn't happened, at least not yet. All of the Uchiha are still currently alive and loyal to the village, including Shisui and Itachi. My reasoning for the entire situation is that Minato managed to calm them down a lot more effectively than the Sandaime tried to, so the entire Uchiha clan hasn't plotted a blatant coup.

I figured I'd go ahead and pump out another one of these since people seem to enjoy this story about as much as my other one. I realize that Hinata might seem a bit too powerful to some, but that's how I always pictured her if she had confidence and her father trained her properly.

I know some people might not like how I described Kiba at the moment, but it's only temporary. He _will_ eventually turn into a decent guy again, he just needs his wake-up call. Getting a boot to the side of the face is usually a pretty good start.

I had to edit this chapter **heavily** from what it originally was, so if you notice any discrepancies in clothing/character descriptions, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm fairly certain I found them all, but I could've easily missed some.

Thanks for reading as always, and see you all next chapter.

* * *

List of Edits:

12/10/2013 - A special thanks to DrunkenBunny and Fenerath for pointing out an error I made in some of Sasuke's text, as can be seen in the Reviews section. I've since edited it out. Thanks again you guys. You're awesome.


	6. A Small Confrontation

Chapter 6: A Small Confrontation

* * *

"A rather impressive display, Hinata," Minato said with a smile as the newly revealed couple stepped out of the academy gate. Naturally, many parents were clamoring around and praising or scrutinizing their child's performance, but it was no problem to find the Namikaze men within a crowd of such a size.

"Ah…t-thank you, H-Hokage-sama," Hinata said with a nervous bow. Despite having a great deal of more confidence now, meeting her boyfriend's father properly for the first time who _just so happened_ to be the Hero of the Third War _and_ the Yondaime Hokage was just a bit intimidating for even the average girl.

"Please," Minato said with a widening smile at the humble display. "Just Minato is fine. I wouldn't want my son's girlfriend to have to be too formal around me, after all."

Hinata's face blushed a faint red at his words, but she nodded nonetheless. Many would think one would argue about addressing someone so influential so informally. However, Naruto's personality had sunk into her throughout the years at least a bit.

She smiled at the blonde Hokage before she simply nodded her head, even as it remained a faint red.

"And you…" Minato continued as he turned away from the embarrassed girl to the one with spikey blonde hair at her side. "I suppose you did an okay job too son," he stated with a grin as he reached out and ruffled his hair.

Naruto simply grumbled a bit as his father performed the familiar gesture in front of Hinata. He didn't usually mind it, truth be told, but in front of his girlfriend was one of the places he would feign not enjoying it.

"Minato-kun," Kushina spoke as she took her place properly beside her husband. "Stop embarrassing him already."

The Yondaime simply let out a scoffing sound from his throat as he retracted his hand.

"I'm his father," he claimed with a sage-like look on his face. "It is clearly written in the contract that I am **required** to embarrass him at least 3 times in front of any girlfriends he has that I know about."

Naruto's face, meanwhile, took a deadpan expression even as Hinata had to suppress her giggles beside him.

"I'm…fairly certain that's supposed to be mom's job, dad."

Minato glanced over to Kushina, who now had her own face in an equally sage-like manner to his own just moments ago.

"Our son is right," she said while holding a finger up as if she were about to impart great wisdom upon someone. "It is a mother's duty to embarrass her son, not the father's."

As he watched his father begin to speak up towards her in response, he merely brought his left hand up and slapped his palm against his forehead. Yup, his parents were perfect for one another.

However, his face immediately grew into a smile as he felt Hinata's hand slip into his right one that was still down by his side. Very carefully, she interlaced their fingers and simply gave a soft squeeze of reassurance which he returned.

"So cute!" Kushina exclaimed as she saw the blue-haired girl perform the action, causing Minato to glance towards them and give a small smile of his own. It was then that he glanced behind the pair, seeing a good number of aged men in white robes walk towards them with Hiashi at the front. There was only one group that could possibly be.

"I think the embarrassment can wait for later," Minato admitted in a bit of a teasing tone. "Looks like you two will have to deal with them first." He inclined his head in their direction, causing the couple to turn around just as the Hyūga entourage arrived.

"Hinata," Hiashi said with a neutral tone as he and the rest of the group arrived. Judging by their prominently displayed foreheads, it was clear that they were all of the main house. They all shared a few things in common, the typical lavender-colored eyes of the clan, the white robes, highly aged, and a look of contempt towards a certain blonde who was next to their heiress.

"Father, elders," Hinata greeted with only the smallest inclination of a bow. Naruto followed the motion at her side, trying to at least lessen the hatred towards him by a small measure before the bombshell dropped on the aged men.

"It has been brought to our attention that you are rather close to this _boy_," One of the elders spat, clearly holding a great deal of contempt for the blonde.

Minato clenched his fists in the background, resisting the urge to take charge of the situation himself. It was rather unusual for a Hyūga to show such blatant disrespect towards a Hokage's family, but Naruto always seemed to be the exception to that rule. Almost no one showed his son any kind of inclination of respect.

"I have, yes," Hinata admitted without so much as any hint of self-doubt of fear tainting her voice as she spoke. The only indication she was under any kind of duress was that she clenched Naruto's hand a bit harder, which was lost on the elder's since her hand was concealed from them by his glove and loose clothing partially obscuring her forearm muscles from their sight.

"You have some nerve, _girl!_" spat another elder in the back. "Why do you go behind our backs to fraternize with this _thing?_"

Kushina, Minato, Hinata, and even Hiashi had to push their anger down at that slap in the face to the boy. Naruto, however, seemed to remain calm even with such disrespect.

"As _esteemed _as you are councilors," Hinata began as the elders had a bit of shock on their faces from the blatant display of sarcasm, "I am not obligated to tell you of my every personal interaction. My personal life, especially my love life, is of none of your concern."

The elders, of course, felt a rage growing deep within the pits of their being. She was right about not having to tell the elders of every personal interaction, but she _was_ supposed to inform at least the clan head of a love interest. On that, they had her cornered at least.

"Ah, but it is clear from the gesture between you two that you are a bit…_closer_ than you let on," the elder from before continued. "You are required to tell Hiashi, at the very least, of that."

"I already have," Hinata said with a ghost of a smile crossing her face. It would have been a full blown smirk, but Hyūga were supposed to be neutral with their emotions after all.

All of the elders then turned to Hiashi with raised eyebrows and a shocked look within their eyes. Not too much to most people that would see it, but within Hyūga circles, it might has well have been shouting at the top of their lungs.

"She's telling the truth," Hiashi confirmed which made the rage within the elders grow that much more. "I merely allowed you to have this little interaction with her to show you how strong she has grown."

"…What do you mean?" A new, female elder asked from the back. She was one of the few that didn't particularly mind the Namikaze boy, but she did certainly mind what she thought of as negative influences. So far, she had no reason to believe he was one, but he hadn't exactly proven to be a positive influence either.

"You all have a general idea of what Hinata was like around 2 years ago," Hiashi stated with a sigh as he glanced at his daughter before he closed his eyes in a stoic look once again. "Unconfident, weak, and unfit to be an heiress of our clan."

Hiashi's words were like a blow to himself as he spoke, knowing now that he had been the main cause of most of that. However, he also felt a small amount of pride that he could at least admit his mistake and that his daughter had been strong enough to overcome all of that anyway.

"However, since she met Naruto, she has grown strong. You just saw for yourselves how far she has progressed in the Gentle Fist style, which I'm assuming none of you have qualms with?"

The group of elders remained silent. They had all been rather impressed at her display, truth be told. It hadn't been at what would be considered a prodigy level, but it was certainly impressive nonetheless. It was very clear that she could be incredibly skilled.

"Couple that with the fact that she hasn't stuttered or shown fear in any form once this conversation started, and I believe she is starting to show very real potential as a proper heiress," Hiashi stated with a bit of pride leaking into his voice.

The elders found themselves agreeing with that inwardly, but it sounded like he wasn't finished just yet.

"So then, I would ask all of you, what do you think changed around 2 years ago to cause such a shift in her? What could cause a girl who could barely look any of us in the eye to begin to excel in Gentle Fist and instill confidence to a point that she could talk to us as if we were equals?"

Hiashi, afterwards, just looked into the blue eyes of his best friend before glancing down just slightly into the matching blue eyes of his son. While it was often difficult to read a Hyūga's emotions through their eyes thanks to the unique structure, it seemed clear that he was doing his best to silently express gratitude towards them both.

Seeing that the elders weren't going to acknowledge it any time soon, Hiashi decided to take another route.

"Hinata, how long ago did you start to become emotionally tied to Naruto?" Hiashi asked, blatantly using his first name instead of anything else.

"Roughly 2 years ago," Hinata said with a slightly upwards curve etched on her lips.

"Do you think that you would've become as strong as you are today without his help?"

"No, there's no way I could have. Without Naruto-kun's support, I would've stayed just as I was before." The lavender-eyed girl looked to her side and gave him a brief smile as she stated as much.

"…Very well then," Hiashi stated with a smile crossing his own face for the briefest of moments. "As clan head, I will formally allow Namikaze-san here to court you."

Many of the clan elders found themselves speechless. They wanted to protest, to make an outcry of indecency or rage. However, they could not find the ability to say anything.

The simple fact of the matter was that Hinata showed no attempt at lying as she spoke, and they had examined her closely to watch for any hint of false information. Their heiress, as they had come to know her recently, would not have been as strong as she was without the blonde helping her.

"I…have no quarrel, even though we have no right to voice as much in the first place," the female elder from before stated in the background. "It is clear that she is close to the boy, and he is helping her rather dramatically judging by the improvement she has shown. He is also related to the current Hokage, so political ramifications will be minimal, even if he is disliked."

At this, the rest of the elders' began to crumble and accept the situation. While they certainly did not trust the one they honestly viewed as the demon reincarnated, it was clear that their heiress and their clan head did, and he _had_ obviously assisted their clan in a way. The fact that political ramifications from him would be minimal thanks to his Namikaze blood also helped to alleviate any protests they would have made otherwise.

"I agree," murmured an elder in the back who remained nameless. Many of the other elders followed suit, either through a soft whisper or a nod. Regardless of not _needing_ their approval, it still made things smoother in the estate if everyone was on the same page, or at least didn't blatantly disapprove.

Hinata, while attempting her best to keep the neutral expression on her face, could not help the happy expression from coming across it even if it was extraordinarily brief. Naruto, to her side, had a large grin across his own. He would never be one for subtlety in a happy situation.

"So it's formal now then?" Minato asked as he finally made his presence known to all of those who were conversing.

"It would appear so, Minato," Hiashi stated with an open smile. The only time he would actually let the feature settle on his face without trying to hide it was when he was addressing his spikey-haired friend. Despite the seemingly drastic differences in personality, the two of them were best friends while in the academy and had actually remained so throughout their lives.

"Fitting," the blonde Hokage said with a soft chuckle.

"Indeed," Hiashi said with a slightly larger smirk. "However, let us not get ahead of ourselves."

"The protective father role already, Hiashi?" Kushina asked from beside Minato with an amused smile. "I mean come on, can't you see the wedding bells already hovering over these two?"

At this, both Naruto and Hinata blushed rather ferociously. It only added to Kushina's amusement.

"I…" Hiashi began to say before he saw how his daughter seemed to be daydreaming blissfully by the look on her face. It was quite clear exactly what she thought about the idea, and the blonde boy next to her didn't seemed to be in a similar state of his own.

"I believe that will be something to discuss far in the future if it comes to it. Isn't that right, Namikaze-san?" Hiashi continued as he leveled a small glare towards his daughter's boyfriend. Despite his seeming carelessness about his daughter for the longest time, as well as his approval of the two's relationship, he wasn't about to go ahead and okay a marriage between the two after just learning about them. He still had to get _some_ enjoyment out of playing the protective father role after all.

"H-Hai, Hiashi-sama," Naruto said with a slight quiver in his voice. Not really so much for fear as realizing he had been somewhat daydreaming through a bit of the conversation.

"Well then," Hiashi stated, feeling satisfied that he had at least scared the boy a bit. "I believe now that this issue is resolved, that the elders and I should be getting back to the Hyūga estate. Hinata, I expect you home by 8:30. Now, if you will excuse us."

Without another word, Hiashi turned and walked away, the elders soon following after him. As they walked away a good distance, Hinata let out a sigh of relief that she had unknowingly been containing. Even if she did have confidence, defending herself in front of that many people that were held in high regard among her family was rather nerve wracking. Even if she had been told everything would be okay beforehand, she couldn't stop herself from feeling at least slightly nervous throughout the entire thing.

However, she felt all of that nervousness slip away when she felt herself enveloped by her blonde boyfriend's arms, pulling her into a hug. Her face only reached the highest part of his chest, so it was quite a comforting presence. She happily buried her face into it, happily releasing her nervousness in exchange for feeling comfort, warmth, and a familiar slight flutter of her heart as he comforted her.

Naruto, while keeping her held close to him, kissed the top of her hime-style hair and rested his chin lightly on the top of her head.

"I'm proud of you, Hinata-hime," Naruto whispered just loudly enough for her and maybe one of his parents to hear.

Hinata just happily hummed her recognition to the compliment into his chest, too content to really bother responding to his praise.

"Well…as much as I would _love_ to keep teasing you two," Minato said with a laugh as his son released Hinata from the hug and the two of them turned towards the Namikaze/Uzumaki couple. "Unfortunately…I have to get back to work."

"I have to go get my Genin group a C-rank as well," Kushina said with a bit of a sad smile that she hadn't been able to completely take the day off to spend with her son.

"That's okay," Naruto said with a genuine smile. "I was planning to spend the day with Hinata anyway."

At this, both of his parents smiled, knowing they would have done the exact same thing with one another at his age.

"Waterfall?" Kushina asked, already having an idea of what he was planning since she had given him some advice on the subject.

"Waterfall," Naruto confirmed with a nod of the head. Minato and Hinata looked somewhat confused, but just acknowledged that they would find out later. The couples waved goodbye to one another as they finally split up. Kushina using a Shunshin to go towards one of the training grounds, Minato using Hiraishin to return immediately to the Hokage office, and Naruto squatting down and letting Hinata sit on his shoulders.

"Ready?" Naruto asked with a small grin on his face, knowing she would be blown away by what he was going to show her.

"Yes," Hinata said softly before the blonde carrying her began to walk forward. "Now, what's this waterfall you were talking with your mom about?"

Naruto's grin just widened a little further. "You'll see soon enough."

* * *

(Meanwhile, Hokage Office)

Minato had just returned to the office via a Hiraishin and was still wearing a beaming smile as he took a seat. That smile died immediately, however, as 2 ANBU agents appeared with a Shunshin in front of his desk. One wore a crow mask while the other wore one resembling a cat. The one in the cat mask was cut in several locations over his body, but didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. The crow was simply supporting him as he attempted to stand straight.

"Hokage-sama," the crow stated. "We have a problem."

* * *

**And finished. **

Drastically shorter chapter compared to the last one, but this is the length I like them at. Don't expect ones like Chapter 5 unless I can't find a good place to stop.

I think I wrote this interaction moderately well. I would've liked to have somehow been able to write Naruto into the conversation more, but it didn't really seem appropriate since he would have at least general knowledge of political and inner-clan situations. He would've known that if he spoke up he would've just been ignored or insulted.

Anyway, still enjoying the messages you guys send about the story. If you have any ideas or feedback, don't be shy! Thanks for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following as always. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next chapter.


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